Connections
by Muse Scroll
Summary: A boy can speak to cards, and teaches Yusei how to as well. Then everything changes. Like Stardust Dragon falling for the kid's Dragunity Arma Leyvaten... and the kid being able to bring cards to life. What's so special about this kid? Rated for lemon. Enjoy. Disclaimer: You recognize it, I don't own it.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Here's something that was randomly going through my head, and so I typed it up. I might continue it. Have yet to decide. Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em><strong>Connections<strong>_

"Ha ha, yeah, yeah, I hear you!" Laughed a young man as he sat on a porch. "Yeah, that last duel _was_ a lot of fun, wasn't it?"

He seemed to pause to listen to either something, or someone. Or perhaps he was contemplating something. Either way, he was ignoring the people that walked by and gave him strange looks. That's when he came to an idea.

"Alright, guys, time to go have some fun," He said, grinning. With that, he ran off to go find the person he wanted to duel.

_Here we are, safe at last_

_We can breathe a sigh,_

_Seems the storm has passed_

As the group of friends walked around town, laughing and talking, one of them was mostly silent and calm although he had a smile on his face at the antics of his friends. Eventually, they split up to head on to their own homes, and on the way, one of them ended up being practically run over.

"Ow!" Exclaimed the voice of the other person. "Sorry about that! Didn't see you there!"

"It's okay," The first man replied offering to help him up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm..." The runner paused noticing who it was. "Hey! Yusei!"

"Huh?" The now-identified other man blinked at the sudden enthusiasm, and the way he jumped up.

"I've been looking all over for you!"

"What? Why?"

"My deck and I wanna go against you in a duel!"

Yusei took several moments to make his decision.

"Could you wait till tomorrow morning?"

"Huh?" The other teen seemed to only just realize how incredibly late it was in the day. He grinned sheepishly, rubbing his head. "Yeah, sure... meet you here tomorrow, about noon?"

"Sure," Yusei said, smiling slightly at the teen's enthusiasm.

"Name's John! See ya!"

With that, the other teen ran off and Yusei was left connecting him to Leo as he headed back home. It was then that something clicked.

_Wait,_ Yusei thought, feeling a bit confused. _He said that his deck wanted to duel me? How does he know that?_

_Through it all, no one knew_

_That all the tears in heaven,_

_Would bring me back to you_

"There you are!" Jake called, waving with a big grin on his countenance when he spotted Yusei.

"Are you ready to duel?" Yusei asked, both of their disks activating at that moment.

"Of course!" Jake said, then he paused and looked at his deck, blinked. After a moment, he smiled to his current opponent. "You plan on using, uhh... what was it... Stardust Dragon, right?"

Yusei frowned slightly. He hadn't originally been planning to, actually.

"Why should I?" Yusei asked, becoming suspicious.

"My deck says that they want to face him, that's all," Jake shrugged. "I don't know why, they just do."

Yusei's frown didn't let up, but he decided to humor the young man and put the dragon in his deck before shuffling again. Jake grinned to his opponent as they drew their hands.

"Duel!" Both exclaimed at the same time.

_Yusei: 4000 LP_

_Jake: 4000 LP_

"You can go first," Jake said, waving his empty hand to Yusei, whom nodded.

"First I'm going to summon Speed Warrior to the field in defense mode! Then I'll end my turn with a face-down!"

The smile never left Jake's face as he nodded in understanding, before taking a deep breath... and drawing. He hummed quietly as he thought of what to do.

"Well, me," Jake began, pulling out a couple of cards. "I'll place a card facedown on the field, before summoning Spear Dragon to the field in attack mode and end my turn!"

A dragon looking like it had a nose like a spear appeared. Yusei drew, and after a couple of moments, got an idea of what to do.

"I'm going to bring Junk Synchron to the field, and have him give Speed Warrior a tune-up!"

The tuner pulled the string on his stomach, before vanishing into lights. Quickly, Speed Warrior was changed into Junk Warrior.

"Junk Warrior will attack your Spear Dragon!"

Jake covered his face with his duel disk and arms as the hologram was shattered into many, many pieces, as his life points took a hit.

_Yusei: 4000 LP_

_Jake: 3600 LP_

"Then I'll end my turn!"

"My move!" Jake exclaimed, taking the top card of his deck.

People of the Sattelite continued to gather and watch as this young teen kept going, turn after turn, against the current King of Duelists. Yusei Fudo had to hand it to the kid; he'd stopped him from synchro summoning for a few turns, but that had just ended.

"And now," Yusei called out, all of the pieces necessary on his field, and with Jake's expression saying it couldn't be stopped, the King kept going. "I summon Quickdraw Synchron! With him on the field, Quillbolt Hedgehog makes a return! Finally, I tune both monsters with my Sonic Chick to synchro summon my most powerful monster – Stardust Dragon!"

Jake's face broke into a big and wide grin as one of the most majestic dragons anyone had ever seen appeared before them all. The smile vanished when he met the beast's eyes. After a few moments, he smirked and nodded.

"I place one card facedown and end my turn," Yusei said, as another flat hologram of a card appeared near him. Jake nodded, drawing as the smirk never left.

_Ah!_ Jake's mind exclaimed in his head, as he noticed whom he'd drawn. _So you're up, huh? Well let's see what the field is, first._

_Yusei: 500 LP_

_Jake: 100 LP_

Yusei's powerful Stardust Dragon easily dwarfed the Dragunity Dux on the field, despite the latter being equiped with Dragunity Brandistock. The two cards in Jake's hand, aside from the one he'd just drawn, weren't any help there either. Smirk widening, the young teen made his decision.

"Alright, Yusei, here's how this will work," Jake said as he held up the card he'd just drawn. "First, I remove from play my Dragunity Dux and my Dragunity Brandistock!"

The two monsters vanished, for good.

"That allows me to special summon this one – Dragunity Arma Leyvaten!" The beast, smirking and holding a giant blade, appeared before all. The dragons on the field, instead of roaring at each other, oddly remained silent, and Jake took note of this. "Then, because of her ability, I'm able to bring a Dragunity monster from my graveyard and equip it to her – and I choose Dragunity Arma Mystletainn!"

As a result of placing the second monster just behind the first, Mystletainn seemed to nod to Leyvaten, whom nodded in return.

"Then I place one card face down and end my turn! Your move, Yusei."

The duelist nodded, before drawing.

"Sorry, but it's over," Yusei said. "I equip my Stardust Dragon with both my Silver Wing card and my Fighting Spirit card! As a result, he gains 300 attack and defense points for each of your monsters, and he can't be destroyed by battle. Stardust Dragon, attack with Cosmic Flare!"

Jake threw up his arms in defense as his monsters were destroyed and Yusei finally won the duel. After heaving a sigh and picking himself up from where he'd crashed from the blow, he grinned at his opponent and shook his hand.

"Mind if we chat for a while?" Jake asked. "I wanna talk to you about a few things."

"Sure," Yusei nodded, before they found a good spot to sit and chat and not have listeners. "What's up?"

"May I see your Stardust Dragon card?" Jake asked sincerely. "There's something I'd like to confirm."

Yusei frowned slightly, but he handed over the card anyway. He watched with growing interest as the teen before him closed his eyes and seemed to be really concentrating. After a few moments, the teen looked at Yusei, smiling and handing the card back.

"That's one really loyal friend you've got there," Jake said, leaning over the rail to watch the sunset at the tall building they stood atop.

"What do you mean?" Yusei asked, confused as he looked at the card now in his hand.

"Hmm... how do I put this...? Well, you remember me saying how my deck wanted to duel you?"

There was a nod.

"I said that because of something I can do. I can hear the spirits of my deck. Of any deck. Any card. Not only can I hear them, I can understand what they say, and naturally, they understand me."

Yusei blinked with surprise, before looking at Stardust Dragon in his hand again.

"So that's what you meant," He said. "So when you say that he's really loyal..."

"I meant it, yeah," Jake nodded, grinning. "He told me quite a few things about you."

"Like what?" Yusei was genuinly interested. This interest rose as Jake's grin grew.

"Right now he's telling me to keep quiet, actually," Jake said. "He's too prideful to admit it. He really cares about you, Yusei. You're like family to him, and that's because of his special ability to be the one to take the fall in order to save his friends – and since you'd apparently do the same, he feels quite connected to you. In several years, whether you stay a duelist or not, I'd say you should at least keep him by your side. He'll be sad if you let him go."

Yusei took a moment to think this through, before nodding, smiling softly. Stardust Dragon _was_ very important to him, and so he decided Jake's advice was nice and solid. He watched as the teen put his hand on his deck, before pulling out a card, frowning, and continued to draw a grand total of five cards. Then he laughed.

"What?" Yusei asked.

"Well, considering my connection to my deck," Jake began, chuckling. "I can usually call for a specific card and it'll jump right to the top. I was trying to call for Leyvaten, but she wouldn't answer... hmm..."

Jake put the five cards back, pulled out his deck, and smirked upon finding the card he was looking for at the bottom. He broke into another grin at what she said before putting his deck back and drawing the top card once more.

"Instead of getting Leyvaten, I'm getting Mystletainn," Jake said, shaking his head with exasperation as he showed Yusei said card. "Where these guys exist is the same place as my deck's field spell card – a dragon ravine. Leyvaten is the leader of this one place, and Mystletainn is basically her right-hand lady. So the boss is pushing her assistant to take her place."

"So that means... your Leyvaten must be sick or something, right?" Yusei guessed. He blinked at Jake's snicker.

"I _suppose_ you could say that," The teen grinned. "Even Mystletainn's laughing. I could tell you why, but you'll have to cut a deal with me."

"And what's that?"

Jake asked Yusei to wait a minute, as he talked out a plan with Mystletainn in silence. Then he put her card back, asking Yusei to do the same with Stardust. Once both deck boxes were closed, the teen explained to his new friend what was going on and how it would be dealt with.

_No one I know,_

_Imagined we would make it_

_But it only matters that we both believe!_

Later that night, in the duel monster's world, Leyvaten could be found still hiding in her place in the dragon ravine she was in charge of. Mystletainn, at her mistress' request, had taken over for the rest of the day... and was now plotting with their duelist to make certain things happen.

"Mistress, a dragon approaches from the sky!" Exclaimed a guard to Mystletainn. She raced outside, and when she spotted who it was – despite his confused look – she smirked. The plan was working.

"Welcome to our humble abode, Stardust Dragon," Mystletainn greeted cheerfully, flying up to meet him, opting to leave her weapon behind in the armory. "Mistress Leyvaten awaits your arrival."

"Well, it was certainly a surprise to suddenly be called," Stardust admitted, as he was led to the queen of the ravine's chambers.

Other beasts and duel spirits had helped the dragons to advance their ravine to be both extremelly natural, and yet still have homes and doors and comfortable places for them to live – and a place most suiting for Dragunity Arma Leyvaten, the strongest of the ravine's citizens, and the one chosen to be in charge of them. When Mystletainn told Stardust to go on in, said mistress looked up and found her eyes widen quite a bit. Thankfully her weapon was elsewhere, or someone would be getting a beating. As soon as Leyvaten saw to it that Stardust was comfortable, she excused herself for a minute. At least, she tried to. The door was locked from the outside.

"Mystletainn," Leyvaten hissed through the door. "Open this damn thing. Now."

"I'm sorry, Mistress, but I can't," Mystletainn responded. "These are my orders. I've reinforced the door and the walls with help from our spellcaster friends to keep you from breaking out."

"Why are you doing this? Who ordered you to?" Leyvaten was more than ready to break the punk who did it into dust.

"Ummm..." The second-hand lady paused, and remembered her instructions. "Jake. Our duelist. He recognized your feelings and he's ordered me to keep you and Stardust locked in your chambers until you tell him."

Leyvaten froze for two reasons. First, she was _so_ going to kick her duelist's ass when she got the chance. Second, she was being forced to... no way.

"Umm... did I come at a bad time?" Stardust asked, causing the queen of the ravine to about-face and shake her head.

"N-No, no... you're fine," Leyvaten answered. She fought to keep herself in check. She sensed her assistant's quick departure and silently swore to get revenge.

_You and me, we're a miracle,_

_Meant to be,_

_And nothing can change that._

"Is it working?" Yusei asked Jake, as he returned from a test run of a new program he'd done for his duel runner. The teen was currently watching their two decks in Yusei's hide-out, particularly Leyvaten and Stardust. The younger man smirked.

"According to Mystletainn, they're in the same room right now," Jake responsed, nodding a bit. "We won't be able to call upon them until I hear otherwise, but some friendly spellcasters have made it so that they can't hurt each other physically."

"Just physically?"

"I can't speak for emotionally or psychologically," Jake answered. Yusei nodded. "But if my gut instinct's right, it won't come to that. And my gut's usually correct."

"I understand that feeling. In the meantime, could you tell me anything else about what my cards say?"

"Well, I could help you learn how to eventually hear them."

"Really?"

"Kinda. There's not much to teach. From our duel, I saw how in tune you are with your deck. The next problem is for you to learn how to listen to them not with your ears or your eyes, but with your heart."

Yusei frowned and wondered what exactly that meant.

_Mountains move,_

_And oceans part,_

_When they are standing in our way._

"So why exactly did you call for me?" Stardust asked, once they had settled down at the table of food that sat in Mistress Leyvaten's not-so-modest chambers. Said lady paused in her meal for a moment, recognizing another detail of her duelist's plot.

_Very smart of you, to make it seem like _I_ did the calling,_ Leyvaten silently scowled. Apparently her expression changed enough for her guest to pick up on it.

"Did I do something wrong?" Stardust's question snapped Leyvaten back into reality and she noticed the confused and bewildered look on his face.

"No, _you_ didn't," Leyvaten answered, scowling as she said the words.

"Are you willing to explain?"

Leyvaten thought about it for many moments, contemplating on what to do. Then she gave a great, heavy sigh.

"In short, my duelist's a jerk," Leyvaten said as she sighed again. Stardust raised an eyebrow.

"What'd he do, if I may ask?"

"He set this entire thing up, getting help from _my_ assistant!"

Stardust couldn't help it – he laughed. The expression and the way Leyvaten had said it was just too funny. Her face fell at this, but before she knew it, a couple giggles turned into laughter for her as well, even if it died down quite quickly.

"What made you laugh at that, anyway?" Leyvaten asked, admittedly feeling not so bad anymore.

"Just the way you said it and how you looked when you did," Stardust smirked. Leyvaten couldn't stop the blush that appeared on her countenance.

_When they are standing in our way _

_You and me, we're a mircale; _

_Angels stand watching over _

_And heaven shines upon us, everyday _

"What did you mean to 'listen with my heart'?" Yusei asked, as several more minutes passed. He was still confused about that.

"That's the hardest part," Jake admitted. "I only learned how to do it because I grew up kinda like this. It takes an open heart. Not an honest one, not a good one – an _open_ one. You trust your deck, and it trusts you, Yusei. That's because your hearts are connected. The next thing for you to do... is for you to figure out how you can open up that connection even further so that you can hear and understand them. Personally, I'd suggest meditating or something."

Yusei nodded, and set up to do just that. Jake would keep on listening to Mystletainn's reports of what was going on in her world and such, while Yusei would work on, well... opening up. How he would do that was still a mystery to him.

_Everytime I felt near defeat,_

_You were there for me, oh,_

_By my side completely._

"So do you know the _real_ reason for why your duelist decided to set this up?" Stardust asked, their meal finished at last, as he stood before Leyvaten, whom was sitting on the edge of her bed. The dragoness blushed and looked away.

"Yeah, I do," Leyvaten said, standing slowly, forcing herself to look Stardust in the eye. Stardust blinked when he realized how many emotions swirled inside her. "And I had no idea he would spot it so easily in me, but..."

Stardust opted to remain silent and listen. After watching Leyvaten have several moments of internal debate, his eyes widened considerably when he suddenly found her lips locked with his own. And then everything became clear as to why he had been called here, why she had been acting so strange. After she finally pulled away, he was still feeling really quite stunned and unsure of what to do. Nobody had ever actually kissed him so out of the blue. In the few moments that passed as she tried to figure out if she was rejected or not, he suddenly realized something.

"Look..." Leyvaten began to say quietly, beginning to slowly back up. "It's alright if... if you don't feel the same way..."

Before she could go anywhere else, she found herself pinned to the majestic creature before her and his lips had taken the liberty of returning her kiss. Not that she minded, of course.

"Don't be like that," Stardust said softly upon releasing it. "I _do_ feel that way."

Leyvaten was frozen, feeling surprised and shocked for several moments, before she smiled sincerely. It was easy for her to tell how geniuine Stardust's statement was. So when she next got them to caress, she was able to pull them both down into a more relaxing position upon her bed, and neither of them objected to it.

_You give me strength ohh.. _

_you set me free... hey yeah yeah _

_Its just because of you ohh.. _

"Yeah, that's it, Yusei," Jake said softly as the older man continued to meditate. The younger one could hear the King's cards saying the connection was getting stronger and clearer. "You're getting it."

Several minutes passed, before Yusei's eyes snapped open and he looked to his deck before gently drawing a card. Just as he had been asked to – and just as he had been told, Debris Dragon was right there on top. He blinked a few times when he heard some cheering coming from the next card, and when he drew it, he found Sonic Chick right there.

"Clearly she's happy to finally be heard," Jake laughed. Yusei smiled as well.

"Will this connected fade?" The pro duelist asked.

"If you can focus and keep it open a while longer, it'll become permanent. If you stop now, it'll fade and you'll have to re-open it. Just keep talking and listening to your deck."

Yusei nodded, then smirked when he heard something else. The sound of someone tinkering. It had to be a synchron, and he had a feeling he knew which one.

"Junk Synchron, what are you doing?" He asked. Yusei frowned in confusion at the answer. "What do you mean, getting a tune-up?"

Jake couldn't help but laugh along with Yusei at Junk Synchron's embarrassed answer about how he and another synchron were working together to make sure they were up to specs. Plus it helped to make sure their tuning skills were at their best. Jake's eyebrows rose as he heard something from his deck, and that made another question come to Yusei's mind.

"Will I be able to communicate with another duelist's deck?" He asked.

"Given time, yes," Jake replied. "Once I was able to talk with my own as easily as I talk with people, I learned how to talk to other decks. It just takes time. Anyway, Mystletainn says that things must be going well, because nobody's crying. Besides, some of the friendly magic spells on the room show colors on the outside walls the correspond to specific emotions, and right now, well... things are getting quite romantic, apparently."

Yusei nodded, before realizing he still held the two cards in his hand and put them face-up on the table in front of him. Jake glanced at Debris Dragon, and with a smirk, put his hand on his own deck, and called upon Leyvaten's assistant. Upon appearing at the top, once she felt the presence of the other dragon, she seemed to suddenly become silent. Yusei felt interested at Jake's grin.

"Is she alright?" Yusei asked.

"Better than alright," Jake answered, putting Mystletainn back. And after drawing five cards, she didn't reappear, but was found hiding in the center of the deck instead. Jake and Yusei shared a smile.

_I'm all that I can be, ohh..._

_When I'm with you,_

_The world is ours to reach for,_

_Together there is nothing we can't do._

"Mmm... Stardust..." Leyvaten found herself moaning quietly, as the one she'd fallen for caressed her neck as lovingly as he did.

It just felt so _nice_... after several moments, Stardust finally pulled away and matched their lips together, tongues dancing almost automatically. Leyvaten didn't argue one bit, naturally. She had to pull back when Stardust's gentle, roaming hands had found her chest and began to play with her breasts. The moans that instantly escaped her throat just egged him on further. It was when she felt his hands leave that area and start going further south that she snapped to attention.

"Ah! Stardust, wait," Leyvaten attempted to stall him. She didn't exactly succeed.

"Shh," He whispered into her ear, silencing her completely. He let his hand gently rub against her clit, making her moans much louder. He was only mildly surprised to find out how incredibly wet her slit was, but perhaps he could point it out to her.

"Nnn... Stardust..." Despite her earlier objections, she seemed quite pleased by how he was treating her – especially as he dipped a couple of fingers into her innards. "Nnnahh..."

The moans quietly left her mouth as Stardust gently used a couple of his fingers to pump in and out of her slick cunt. As the lust continued to gently grip their minds, Leyvaten spent several moments allowing those smooth fingers of his to fill her. However, at last, she was able to find the strength to gently pull his hand out of her inners. She pulled him into a kiss as she gently interlaced their fingers, utterly ignoring the juices coating those two fingers of his sexy hands.

"Heh... you missed something," Leyvaten whispered to him, once she pulled back, making him slightly confused.

Carefully reaching through the space between their bodies, Stardust suddenly felt intense pleasure rocket through him, and he had to look down to see what caused it. His face went a deep red upon seeing what it was, but that became the least of his worries as the lady's smooth hands began gently pumping his length. As he had been playing with her hole, he had failed to notice the way his tip had begun to poke against her stomach, and now that she was returning the favor, Stardust quickly had his entire length erect and more than ready to fill someone – preferably Leyvaten.

"Mmm... L-Leyvaten..." He moaned into her ear. It was difficult for him to hold back his load as he neared the edge. She stopped when his member had leaked pre all over her hand and stomach.

"Claim me," She whispered gently to him, letting go of his deliciously smooth and wet length.

Stardust opted to not disappoint her. Gently taking hold of her hips, he carefully placed his tip at her entrance, causing them both to moan quite loudly as he ever so slowly used his entire length to fill her. Stars erupted in Leyvaten's vision from the pleasure when he brushed against her cervix, the feeling incredibly intense. Instinct dictated that she then hold him as physically close as possible, allowing them to adjust for a few, torturous moments. Then, upon his own decision, he began to carefully pound against the sexy lady laying on the bed below him.

"Ah... S-Stardust..." Leyvaten panted out softly, as his cock kept hitting that one spot inside her that just seemed to cause everything to be intensly pleasurable. Every last nerve fiber was sensitive, especially around her nethers.

The male dragon didn't say a thing. Not that he really could. After all, the intense feelings threatening to overwhelm them both just forced his instincts to keep him quiet and keep pounding away at Leyvaten. He could feel the base of his member quickly swelling, preparing to tie them together and make the –

"Ahh!" Leyvaten cried out, halting Stardust's train of thought as his knot finally slipped passed his lady's lips and trapped him inside her. "Mmmahh..."

Several moments of grinding against her clit passed, before Stardust grunted as her inner muscles suddenly clenched on his cock and pumped it for all it was worth as her juices coated their intertwined nethers – and it didn't hold back. In seconds, the male held still, holding himself as close and far in her as physically possible with his length as it finally blew its load straight into her womb. Leyvaten moaned happily as the warmth of Stardust's hot seed spread throughout her entire body. Many moments went by as they held each other tightly, not wishing for this to end, even as the afterglow began to finally die down and the male's knot slowly deflated. Once it finally stopped, Leyvaten pulled Stardust into their deepest and most passionate kiss yet. Taking his cue, Stardust gently removed himself from his new lover's innards, them both moaning a touch as he did so.

"Mmm... I do have a question for you," Stardust said softly, after they'd taken the time to prepare for a night's rest.

"Yes?" Leyvaten wondered what he could possibly ask.

"What made you want _me_ as your mate this badly? And after meeting you only once?"

Leyvaten had to admit he had a good question.

"Well," She began. "After being with Jake all this time, I've learned how to really read what kind of character someone is. And I liked what I saw in you."

"So it's not just my looks?" Stardust smirked. One would be surprised how many dragons tried to get him just for that.

"It's just an added bonus to have someone as sexy as you," Leyvaten replied smoothly, smirking at the resulting blush. "I've got people in this valley who try to get me for _my_ looks, too, you know. Why would I do that to someone when I've gone through it?"

Stardust blinked, then smiled softly before hugging her tightly, gratefully. She knew exactly how he felt, and that just made this connection all the more precious as they finally fell into a deep sleep, holding each other close.

_The chance was so unlikely _

_That we would ever win _

_Two stars among the heavens_

"So, Yusei, who's the kid?" Jack asked as he found Yusei helping the teen into an empty bed at Martha's place, where they were staying for the moment.

"He says he's Jake," Yusei answered. "I met him while I was walking around town between our duels with the Dark Signers. He challenged me to a duel."

"How'd he do?" Luna asked.

"I bet he got his butt kicked!" Leo said, being careful to be quiet to not wake the now-sleeping Jake.

They vacated the room before they continued to talk.

"No, he actually did pretty well," Yusei admitted. "Got me down to my last 500 points."

"Not bad," Blister commented. "Anything else special about him? Looks like he fell asleep sitting around doing something."

"He was," Yusei nodded, glancing at his deck and Jake's, both still on the table. His connection to his own hadn't faded yet. "It's kinda complicated."

"We got time," Jack pointed out.

"Then perhaps I should be the one to explain," Jake said tiredly, as he stood in the doorway.

"I thought you were asleep," Yusei said, smirking.

"So did I," Jake chuckled. He shook his head a bit to wake up before going over to his deck and drawing a card. "Mystletainn says they're both fast asleep and we should be able to call on them in a while. Perhaps we should get some rest too."

"What do you mean?" Leo asked, confused. Jake grinned and showed the twin the card in his hand.

"This is Dragunity Arma Mystletainn," The teen said, calmly explaining. He paused and looked at Luna for a moment. "Interesting. Luna, right?"

"Huh? Yeah," Luna said, confused as to how he knew her name.

"Your deck told me your name, don't worry."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I have the ability to communicate with the creatures of any card as if I'm talking to a person," Jake explained calmly. "I heard from your deck your name, Luna, and it sounds like they really like you. Anyway, I can explain later. I'm pretty tired, but I don't want to leave our decks out to be stolen or something. I'll see you guys later, I guess..."

With that, Jake went to grab his deck, then paused for a moment. After making his decision, he went over to Yusei.

"I don't want to get them too far apart, so keep an eye on my deck as well as yours, okay? Thanks."

With that, Jake yawned, thanked Martha for letting him stay the night and went back to sleep in the bed he'd been provided. The rest of the gang looked at him, then at each other, then at Yusei whom shrugged and grabbed his own deck before heading to bed himself. A smirk graced his face at what he heard from how Debris Dragon, after going mysteriously silent, was ranting about how he was worried about his boss – Stardust Dragon. The tuner noticed his duelist's jubilant mood and demanded what was so funny. Yusei just remained silent until he fell asleep, both he and Jake's deck not travelling far from each other until the very next morning.

"Hmm, they're finally awake," Jake said when he arrived in the dining room and Yusei returned his deck. He grinned at getting an earful from Leyvaten, whom he drew just then.

"Getting yelled at?" Yusei smirked.

"And cursed at in some very creative ways. What about Stardust Dragon?"

"Debris Dragon is yelling at him, demanding to know what happened and why he was gone all night long. Stardust doesn't seem too talkative."

Jake and Yusei continued to talk about what was going on with their decks, before Jake excused himself to talk to Leyvaten in private. Once he returned, an evil smirk was on his countenance, and one could practically hear said dragon having the same one.

"Huh?" Yusei said upon hearing what Stardust said suddenly. "Stardust is apparently inviting one of Leyvaten's dragons to his place."

Jake nodded, smirk never leaving his face. Once the specific dragon was gone, he spoke again.

"Mystletainn's coming over for a visit," He explained. "For a few reasons. One, Debris Dragon. Two, I offered to help Leyvaten get her revenge on her asstant, and she agreed by sending her to Stardust's place. Three, they may be planning on merging their... kingdoms? Something like that."

"What, with Stardust as king and Leyvaten as queen?"

"Leyvaten says for me to shut up if I know what's good for me," Jake laughed. Yusei's smirk widened a bit. "Anyway, I got a question for you. Why's Stardust so protective of you? During our last duel, he seemed to be really wary of me at first, until he noticed I wasn't... something. He seemed to be particularly interested in my arms."

Yusei looked at Jake, then drew Stardust Dragon from the top of his deck. After a few moments, he placed the synchro monster down on the table, Jake placing Leyvaten right by him. Yusei began to explain what was going on, getting the feeling that having a duelist like Jake on their side would be very helpful. This is what Jack walked in on.

"Yusei, why are you telling this kid about that? He's not a part of this!" Jack exclaimed.

"I could just ask his deck, then," Jake replied, when Yusei went silent. "If they're willing to say anything."

Jake closed his eyes, and listened closely to Stardust Dragon, whom explained to both him, and everyone else in his deck, what was going on. After several moments, he looked at Jack, and the other now-awake Signers with a raised eyebrow.

"That is a lot of information," He stated. "Sounds like you guys got a lot to deal with."

There was a pause as he listened to someone, and they watched as Yusei raised an eyebrow at the two cards on the table. Jake had a bemused expression.

"What's going on?" Luna asked, confused by the teen's look.

"Leyvaten, and everyone else in my deck along with me, wants to join in the fight," Jake began. "But Stardust doesn't exactly agree."

"_Leyvaten, you can't be serious!" _Stardust exclaimed to her, as Yusei and Jake heard him.

"_I am, and there's nothing you can do to stop me,"_ Leyvaten answered. _"Jake and I are fighting with you."_

"_But... it's too dangerous..."_

"_Stardust, I'm just as strong as you!"_ She snapped, making him back off a touch.

"Leyvaten, he just cares about you, don't be so harsh," Jake intervened calmly. A sigh was heard.

"_You're right, Jake,"_ She said softly, turning to Stardust. _"Stardust, I know how much you care, but I'm with you all the way on this. I care too much about you to let you do this on your own."_

Stardust remained silent for a while.

"_Just..."_ He began to say, knowing that he'd lost the argument. _"Don't be reckless."_

"_I should say the same to you,"_ Leyvaten sounded bemused, but grateful.

"Alright, looks like I'm on the team," Jake said. "And no, there's nothing any of you can say that will stop me or my deck."

The rest of the Signers, aside from Yusei – whom nodded his understanding – glanced at each other. Then things went on as they talked about what to do next...

* * *

><p><strong>Credits:<strong> Song lyrics from the song "We're a Miracle".

**A/N:** I certainly hope you enjoyed that. I just might continue this. You'll know if I do. This chapter takes place during season 1, when Yusei's returned to the Sattelite, if you wanted to know that.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Like I said, this was already going through my head. I'm basing Jake's deck mostly on my own Dragunity deck... not including the three Blue-Eyes, Blue Eyes Ultimate, and Ancient Fairy Dragon cards I have. He doesn't get those. :P

* * *

><p><em><strong>Connections<strong>_

"Are you a psychic duelist?" Akiza finally asked Jake, whom blinked at the idea. The others looked at him, interested in his answer.

"No," Jake answered. "I can see where you get the idea, but as far as I know, I'm not."

"Then how can you communicate with the cards?"

"From what I've figured out, it just takes an open heart that's willing to do so. I've never known of there being any other way of doing it."

"I can talk to the spirits of the cards, too," Luna said. "But I've never met anybody else that can do it."

"Well, uh... now you can say you have?" Jake grinned sheepishly, shrugging as he did so. There were a few laughs and chuckles around the dinner table they were eating at.

"Could you tell us what our cards say of us?" Leo asked excitedly. Jake laughed.

"Like what? That they think you're crazy sometimes and should learn how to calm down?" He grinned, making Leo blush with embarrassment as the table, especially Luna, laughed. Then he paused and frowned as he looked out the window behind Martha, whom sat at the head of the table.

"What's wrong?" Yusei asked, watching as their new friend's eyes narrowed. Jake stood and opened the window.

"Who's there?" Jake called to the forest. "Come out! I know you're there."

Yusei came over to the window, along with Jack, and watched as someone dressed in a dark cloak walked out of the shadows. A Dark Signer.

"Well, well, well," The true-bass voice of the man began, chuckling darkly. "At least one of you pays attention to their surroudings."

Jake's eyes travelled to the man's duel disk, and eyes widening sharply, he had to back up and sit down. Something about that deck clearly either scared, or shocked, him. The people in the room turned to him in surprise.

"What's wrong?" Luna asked gently.

"His _deck_... their voices are..." Jake shook his head and forced himself to stand up. "I've never encountered a deck with their voices _muted_ like that. All I can hear is the sound of something dark and powerful and not exactly friendly – and it's laughing or something. Everything else in the deck... either their voices are being covered up, or they've been silenced. And I don't like it."

The group shared a look, before looking back out at the Dark Signer standing right outside their window.

"How about we duel, Yusei? Right now," Said the man, grinning as darkly as his robe was black.

"Not here," Yusei said, grabbing his stuff for the duel. After Jake's help, he could hear his monsters demanding that they take down this Dark Signer together.

"I'm going with you, and you can't stop me," Akiza said as they walked outside.

"Same here," Jake interrupted. "Leyvaten wants to be there, and so do I."

Yusei nodded to them both, and they walked away to where the man, calling himself Roman, would duel Yusei. Upon arrival, Jake announced his decision.

"Yusei, I'm fighting alongside you, end of discussion," Jake said, narrowing his eyes at Roman.

"No, Jake, it's too dangerous," Yusei attempted to argue. He paused at Stardust's advice to just let the teen do it.

"You're not even a signer, why should I bother dueling you when I'm already going to win?" Roman grinned. Jake smirked.

"So you can have the fun of dueling two of us at once and saying you won if you really will," The teen said, playing his cards perfectly. "And no, Yusei, like I said, this is not up for debate."

The King of New Domino City sighed and nodded, and Roman just smirked as the two of them activated their disks and their decks were shuffled. Upon drawing, the disks decided who would go first.

"Looks like I go first," Jake said, as they drew their hands. And, all at once, they spoke, as the flames colored purple appeared around them all.

"Duel!"

_Roman: 8000 LP_

_Yusei: 4000 LP_

_Jake: 4000 LP_

"Draw!" Jake exclaimed, liking what his deck gave him in his hand. "Alright, here's how this goes. Try and keep up. First, I summon the monster Hunter Owl in attack mode!"

_Hunter Owl: 1000 ATK/900 DEF, 4 Stars_

_(This card gains 500 ATK for each face-up WIND monster you control. While you control another WIND monster, your opponent cannot attack this monster.)_

_Why would he summon a level four monster with such low attack power?_ Akiza thought to herself, standing back to watch with confusion.

"His ability kicks in now, and he gains 500 attack points."

_Hunter Owl: 1000 ATK 1500 ATK_

"Then, from my hand, I activate the equip spell card, Mage Power! For each spell and trap card I control, including this one, he gains an additional 500 attack and defense!"

_Hunter Owl: 1500 ATK 2000 ATK, 1400 DEF_

"Then, by placing two cards facedown before ending my turn, he gains an additional 1000 attack and defense points!"

_Hunter Owl: 2000 ATK, 1400 DEF 3000 ATK, 2400 DEF_

"Be glad I can't attack in the first turn," Jake said harshly. That silenced deck of Roman's was really putting him on edge, and his deck was responding appropiately. They didn't like it when he was like this.

"Then it's my move," Roman said, drawing and chuckling. "First, I activate the field spell card, Spider Web. Next comes the monster, as a special summon, Dark Tuner Spider Cocoon!"

_Dark Tuner Spider Cocoon: 0 ATK/0 DEF_

_(If your opponent controls monsters and you don't, you may special summon this monster from your hand.)_

"A Dark Tuner?" Yusei exclaimed, getting Jake's attention, even as the teen flinched from the menacing voice whispering from the monster.

"That's right," Roman confirmed, grinning evilly. "Then I normal summon Dark Spider, and use its effect to increase Dark Tuner Spider Cocoon from five stars to seven!"

_Dark Spider: 0 ATK/0 DEF_

_(Until your end phase, you may increase one face-up insect monster's level by 2.)_

"Then I'll use these monsters to dark synchro summon... Underground Arachnid!" Roman laughed, as the beast began to be synchro summoned.

_Underground Arachnid: 2400 ATK/1200 DEF, 6 Stars_

"_Dark_ synchro summon?" Jake cried, watching as the white stars turned black.

"That's right!" Roman grinned. "Welcome, my spidery friend! Now, I use his effect to capture Hunter Owl!"

The beast trusted his duelist, and as such, the only show of emotion Jake gave was a clenching of his fist.

"But it's the first turn, so I'll end with a face-down."

"I draw!" Yusei called, picking up the first card of his deck. "First, I summon Road Synchron!"

The tuner grinned in its hologram as it appeared. Then, from Yusei using One for One, he summone Tuningware and therefore, Quillbolt Hedgehog. From there, he synchro summoned one of his favorites – Road Warrior. Jake smirked along with his teammate at what the warrior-type was saying.

"And Road Warrior attacks Underground Arachnid!"

"I may take the damage, but Hunter Owl is the one destroyed!"

_Roman: 7400 LP_

_Yusei: 4000 LP_

_Jake: 4000 LP_

"And since it's your end phase, Spider Web causes Road Warrior to switch to defense mode!"

_Road Warrior: 3000 ATK/1500 DEF_

"My turn, and I draw!" Jake exclaimed, pulling out his top card, and smirked. "First, I summon Dragunity Aklys! As a result, I can special summon one dragunity monster from my hand, and equip it with Aklys, and I choose Dragunity Militum!"

_Dragunity Militum: 1700 ATK/1200 DEF, 4 Stars_

_(Once per turn, you can special summon one "Dragunity" monster from the spell & trap card zone.)_

"Then I activate her effect, and special summon Aklys to the field!"

_Dragunity Aklys: 1000 ATK/800 DEF, 2 Stars_

_(When Dragunity Aklys is equipped to a monster and destroyed, choose one card on the field and destory it. When Aklys is normal summoned, special summon a "Dragunity" monster from your hand and equip it with this card.)_

"Finally," Jake began. "I'm having Aklys give Militum a tune-up for a synchro summon! And the monster I'm bringing out is Dragunity Knight Gae Bulg!"

_Dragunity Knight – Gae Bulg: 2000 ATK/1100 DEF, 6 Stars_

_(If this card attacks or is attacked, you may remove from play one Winged Beast-type monster in oyur graveyard to have this card gain the ATK of that monster until the end phase.)_

Jake took a moment to listen to the knight and nodded.

"Don't worry, we'll win," He smirked. "I end my turn. It's back to you, Roman."

"Then I activate my trap card, Altar of the Bound Deity!"

The two other duelists watched as a very large building grew out of the background, looking exactly like an ancient altar.

"That... can't be good," Jake commented.

"And neither can this!" Akiza exclaimed, getting their attention. "What are you doing here?"

There, watching the duel, were two boys from Martha's refuge. They explained, crying, they only wanted to watch and maybe help. Yusei and Jake both realized how much quicker they had to win. Only four turns to win was kinda pushing it.

"Then I'll summon Ground Spider in defense mode, place a card facedown, and end my turn," Roman said, ignoring the two boys.

_Ground Spider: 0 ATK/1500 DEF, 4 Stars_

_(Once per turn, if a monster is normal or special summoned, you may change its position to defense mode.)_

"I believe that's all I need to do for now."

"Then it's to me," Yusei said, taking his deck's top card. "I use Road Warrior's ability to special summon Speed Warrior to the field."

"And I use Ground Spider's effect to change it to defense position!" Roman exclaimed, as Ground Spider shot shot silk at Speed Warrior to do just that.

"Nice try," Jake said, activating a trap. "I'm activating my Final Attack Orders trap. From now on, until this card is destroyed, all monsters on the field are forced into attack position."

Roman didn't flinch as Speed Warrior was let go and Ground Spider's position changed. Yusei nodded to Jake.

"I'm using Advance Draw to draw two more cards," Yusei said, getting Iron Resolve and Turret Warrior. "I release Speed Warrior to summon Turret Warrior, who will attack Ground Spider!"

Turret Warrior attacked, destroying Ground Spider and dealing damage to Roman's life points, and Yusei ended his turn there.

_Roman: 6200 LP_

_Yusei: 4000 LP_

_Jake: 4000 LP_

"My draw, then," Jake said, smirking at what he drew. "Interesting that I'd draw _you_ right now. Hmm... I'm going to activate from my hand the spell card Pot of Greed! I get to draw two cards. Then, I'm also going to activate from my hand the card called Ante."

It depicted a hand showing a one-star monster to its opponent.

"Here's how this works," Jake began to explain. "First, everyone picks a monster card in their hand. Preferably, the one with the highest star level."

"_You're choosing me, right?"_

"No, I can't risk losing you. Anyway, once you've chosen, everyone reveals that monster! I chose Dragunity Darkspear, a level three monster!"

"I've got a one-star monster," Roman said, as Yusei showed another three-star.

"Then that means your monster is sent to the graveyard, and you take a thousand points of damage," Jake said calmly.

_Roman: 5200 LP_

_Yusei: 4000 LP_

_Jake: 4000 LP_

"Then I'm going to special summon Dragunity Arma Mystletainn by sending Gae Bulg to the graveyard," Jake began, as the assistant of the ravine's leader appeared with blade ready. "As a result, I equip Dragunity Militum to her. Then, I'm going to ahead and thank the assistant, for helping me get out the leader. By removing these two from play, I'm allowed to special summon Dragunity Arma Leyvaten!"

Yusei looked at his deck, hearing Stardust Dragon demand that he get to fight alongside her as soon as possible. Jake opted to ignore this, as he used Leyvaten's ability to equip Dragunity Aklys to her.

_Dragunity Arma Leyvaten: 2600 ATK/1200 DEF, 8 Stars_

_(You may special summon Leyvaten by removing from play 1 face-up monster equipped with a "Dragunity" monster. When this card is normal or special summoned, you may equip it with 1 dragon-type monster in your graveyard, except for itself. When this card is destroyed, the equipped monster may be return to the field by special summoning.)_

"I can still normal summon," Jake said, bringing out Dragunity Darkspear, whom bowed to his leader, whom nodded in return. "That's all for now."

"Then it's my move," Roman said, as a single lanturn of the Altar of the Bound Deity lit up. "And I activate Offerings of the Bound Deity, paying half my life points to light up two of the lanturns!"

A scowl crossed the faces of Jake, Yusei, Akiza, and Leyvaten as the points went down and the flames lit on the large, ancient-looking altar.

_Roman: 2600 LP_

_Yusei: 4000 LP_

_Jake: 4000 LP_

"I think I'll let you two have one last turn," He chuckled, as the duel turned to Yusei's turned, whom drew right then.

"Alright, I'm summoning Junk Sychron, and activating its ability," Yusei said, bringing Turbo Booster out from the graveyard.

_Junk Synchron: 1300 ATK/500 DEF, 3 Stars_

"Next, Junk Synchron will tune with 5-star Turret Warrior!"

Junk Synchron seemed to grin at the idea of doing its job as a tuner monster, and revved up the engine on its back, before vanishing and beginning to make Turret Warrior vanish.

"In order to synchro summon, the beast of the cosmos – Stardust Dragon!"

Stardust Dragon appeared, giving off quite a show of light and sparkles that came from his appearance that the holographic projectors captured perfectly.

"_It's about time you arrived,"_ Leyvaten grinned.

"_Give me time," _Stardust replied, rolling his eyes at her.

"_Right, you like your flashy entrances. And how come you get a fancy title and I don't?"_

"Your name is enough of a mouthful as it is," Jake answered, rolling his eyes at the affronted feeling he got from her as a result. "My turn, Yusei?"

"Yeah," Yusei said, as the two dragons kept talking back and forth, if only quietly. "Go ahead."

"Then I'll draw this card," Jake glanced at it, the field, and placed the card in his disk. "Place it face-down and end my turn."

"Then I suppose I should warn you about what's about to –"

"Hold it!" Jake exclaimed. "Now that it's your standby phase, before you summon that Earthbound... thing, I'm activating a trap since I'm allowed to. It's a little something I like to call Last Turn!"

"Last Turn?" Roman and Yusei asked at the same time, intriqued by Leyvaten and Jake's smirk.

"Allow me to guide you all through it one step at a time," Jake began. "First, everyone picks a monster on their side of the field.

Roman chose Underground Arachnid, while Yusei obviously chose Stardust Dragon, and Leyvaten was picked as Jake's.

"Now take a look at what's in your hand, because now we've all got to discard them completely," Jake explained, smirk growing slightly. "Finally, take one last look at your field... because every card that you didn't select is also destroyed, and not a single effect activates!"

Roman grit his teeth, as they all discarded everything but their chosen monster, causing the spider web background to dissipate.

"Keep this in mind – effect powers don't work with Last Turn in effect!" Jake exclaimed. "Since there are two of us over here, facing you Roman, pick one of us."

"I'll pick the non-signer," Roman said, pointing to Jake.

"Fine," Jake nodded. "As a result of Last Turn, our monsters duke it out, and the winner wins the duel! Leyvaten, you know what to do, and do it quickly before Roman pulls some sort of dirty trick!"

Leyvaten didn't hesitate a bit, racing forward faster than Roman could react. As a result, the duel ended right when Arachnid Spider was destroyed – with victory for Jake and Yusei, and it was then that Jack and Martha and Trudge arrived to get the kids.

"Wow, he's not bad," Jack commented quietly.

"Yeah, I didn't think he'd be that good," Trudge agreed.

Roman chuckled, before jumping up to meet with his fellow Dark Signers as the Signers arrived, Martha and Trudge taking care of the kids in the process. The two of them stared each other off for a while.

"That was a good duel, kid," Roman complimented. "But I don't disappear that easily. Tomorrow, meet us at the four stars of destiny, then this will all be decided."

With that, things went into many different directions. Jack noticed someone familiar and went after them, Yusei's old friend Kalin taunted them, but most Dark Signers vanished and/or left stylishly. Jake, however, had a question once he'd glanced at his now-offline duel disk. He decided to voice his question.

"Hey, Yusei?" Jake began, confused. The duelist turned to the teen. "You aren't a psychic duelist, right?"

"No, that would be me," Akiza interrupted.

"Then could someone explain something to me... like, why Leyvaten and Stardust haven't vanished yet, even though all the duel disks are offline and the cards are put away?"

The dragons seemed to just notice this as well, and looked at each other, then at the now-staring duelists. Jake's eyebrows were nearing his hairline as he went over to Leyvaten. Poking her, she instinctively slapped his hand away, showing everyone what just happened. The two monsters had somehow been brought into this world, and the current few questions involved why, and how they would be going back...

* * *

><p><strong>Credits:<strong> It all goes to me! :D Well, not including the "real-life monsters" idea. Give credit of that to Joey Taylor.

**A/N:** Well, I hope you enjoy that last twist! The idea came to me recently, and I thought, 'why not?'. Reviews are most appreciated. After all, Leyvaten and Stardust will pulverize you if you don't.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Alright, here you all are, another chapter for this story, along with another duel.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Connections<strong>_

"So now we have two real-life monsters..." Jake said, eyes a bit wide as the two creatures spoken of seemed just as surprised as the duelists. "Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"How about we worry about that _after_ we take out the Dark Signers?" Leo suggested. "Sure, having them here is a bit weird, but we've got the world to save!"

The group exchanged some looks. The kid had a point.

"That's true," Crow said. "I guess we should worry about these guys later. Let's head back to Martha's with the kids. Is that all of them?"

"No, our friend is somewhere around here!"

Eventually, the group found the third kid from Martha's refuge, and returned to said building. Leyvaten and Stardust were greeted by everyone that had hidden there with confusion, interest, and a bit of fear. The two monsters looked at each other. Leyvaten, ever so slowly, put her gigantic blade down. The fear didn't seem to dissipate all that much. She decided to ask why.

"_Okay, I put my weapon down, why are they still – how should I put this?"_ Leyvaten began. _"Scared out of their wits?"_

"_I think it has something to do with being really big and having really sharp claws,"_ Stardust decided to guess.

"_...I think I'll have to agree with that,"_ Leyvaten opted to give him that one when she noticed how much she towered over her duelist.

"I think we all will," Jake commented to her, before turning to the kids and smiling. "Don't worry, they won't hurt you."

"You promise?" A kid asked.

"I promise," Jake nodded, smile not fading one bit. "If they hurt anyone, they have me to answer to."

The look Leyvaten received was, if she was willing to admit it, quite convincing to heed his warning.

"You two can decide where you're staying," Jake told them, waving as the group went inside. Leyvaten and Stardust looked at each other.

"_I think I've decided to not anger your duelist,"_ Stardust commented, as the two of them mutually decided to rest in the shadows of the forest, but close enough to watch the building.

"_I think that I've decided the same thing,"_ Leyvaten agreed, taking her blade with her. _"I mean, I've seen him frustrated during some tough duels against some really mean guys, but... against that Roman... there was something I haven't seen. He was really on edge."_

"_Because he couldn't hear the voices in Roman's deck, right?"_

"_Yeah,"_ Leyvaten nodded. She frowned. _"Does that mean that all Dark Signer decks are silenced? I don't think I want to have him be like that again."_

"_Yeah, I could sense it all the way from Yusei's extra deck,"_ Stardust commented. _"You guys in his deck seemed to be really anxious about Jake when he was like that."_

"_I think it's just going to get worse with the next few duels."_

As the two beasts talked, so did the humans inside of Martha's refuge. They were discussing where they would find the 'four stars of destiny'. Mina explained that it must mean the four places that powered up the original Ener-D reactor. It was decided that Yusei would fight Kalin, Luna would go against that guy that had stolen Ancient Fairy Dragon and Leo would go with her, and so on. Jake had to wonder something.

"Where do I fit in this?" He asked aloud.

"How about you go with Yusei?" Jack said.

"After all, you two did really well against Roman," Blister added, nodding.

"Okay, but how am I supposed to go with him?" Jake asked, raising an eyebrow. "As far as I can tell, his runner has one seat, not two, and I don't have a runner of my own."

"He has a point," Yusei said. "I can only really hold one person on my duel runner."

"He can come with us," Luna said. "Officer Trudge is taking us in his car, there should be one more seat open."

"If he's fine with that, then sure," Jake said.

"It's fine with me," Trudge nodded.

After a few more minutes of discussion, the group dissipated, Jake and Yusei opting to go outside and check on the two now-real dragons. As they searched for the creatures' hidden location, the teen was talking with Mystletainn.

"_What do you mean she's still there?" _Mystletainn demanded of her duelist.

"I mean exactly what I said," Jake answered. "When the holograms dissipated and the duel disks went offline, Stardust and Leyvaten somehow remained. For some reason, they've been given real bodies."

"_Talking to Mystletainn?"_ Leyvaten asked as the two duelists neared the dragons, whom stepped out of the shadows.

"_Mistress, what's happened to you?" _Mystletainn countered. _"The valley is beginning to notice your absence. What should I tell them?"_

Leyvaten sighed at this.

"_The truth, Mystletainn,"_ Leyvaten answered at length. _"Nothing more than the truth, and that we'll see how we can fix this mess."_

Mystletainn agreed to do it, and soon enough, vanished from contact zone.

"_We can't exactly bring our valleys into one if we're out of them,"_ Stardust commented, once he'd told Debris Dragon to do the same with his own valley, whom had chosen him as his leader.

Each and every duelist's deck resided in its own home, and when a deck didn't have a field spell to represent it, the deck's inhabitants chose their home and their leader. Stardust was one such leader, and there was another valley they'd chosen as their home. Leyvaten sighed again at his statement.

"Like Crow said," Yusei interrupted calmly. "We should put taking out the Dark Signers first. If we don't, the chance to go through with that plan may never come to pass."

Stardust had no choice but to agree with that statement. His duelist was right, the Dark Signers were the current top priority. Either way, he wondered what exactly would go down tomorrow, and he knew his duelist was thinking the same thing. Apparently, Jake had opted to put those thoughts aside and ask something instead. While vanishing from sight.

"_Huh? Jake, where'd you go?"_ Leyvaten asked upon noticing this.

"Over here," Jake called, getting them to look over in his direction. "How the heck do you carry this thing? It's as tall as I am!"

Leyvaten couldn't help it – she laughed at the question. He was asking about her sword. Jake glared at her, but she just kept a grin and shook her head with exasperation, before coming over and picking up the blade as if it weighed nothing. Which, since she was fully accustomed to the thing, it felt that way.

"_I'm just used to it, that's all,"_ Leyvaten answered, grinning at his roll of the eyes.

"Yeah, I figured," Jake said. "Especially when you picked it up like it weighed the same as a twig!"

"_Is he always this..."_ Stardust paused to think of a word.

"Enthusiastic?" Yusei provided.

"_Something like that, yeah,"_ Stardust decided to agree.

"_Just keep him away from the sugar, then he gets really bad,"_ Leyvaten grinned. Jake's face flushed.

"I do not!" He protested. The result was laughter.

"_Methinks he doth protest too much,"_ Stardust chuckled.

"And someone thinks he's a Shakespeare master!"

Stardust spluttered at the comment, attempting to find some other line from those plays and sonnets to recite in response. One could imagine the laughter this caused.

_"Yusei, you're supposed to be on my side!"_ Stardust exclaimed as his partner was laughing at the dragon's embarrassment. Yusei just smirked at the dragon, who turned away and grumbled something about 'evil partners'.

"It's starting to get late," Jake said after the laughter died down finally. "Let's head back in, 'cause we're gonna need to be at our best. Night, guys."

With that, Jake waved as he headed back into the building, Yusei soon doing the same. Stardust was surprised when, the door closed, someone wrapped their arms around his chest. It took him only a moment to recognize the head nuzzling against his neck. He just smiled at Leyvaten, whom seemed just as pleased.

"_Mm, we're finally alone,"_ Leyvaten said smoothly.

"_And I have you all to myself,"_ Stardust replied just as slyly, smirking at her blush. He slipped around her grip, pulling her into a deep kiss right on the spot, if only for a few precious moments. Once he pulled away, he gently pulled her into the shadow of the forest, where they couldn't be seen or heard, but could still keep an eye on the building.

"_What did you have in mind?"_ Leyvaten asked slyly, enjoying the way Stardust gently traced a finger up her scaley side. She especially liked it as he carefully caressed her neck, bringing them both to lay down on the soft grass. That was when he let go. "_I think I like where this is going..."_

"_That's only part of the plan," _Stardust whispered into her ear, before leaning his head down her chest. She burst out into heavy moans when he licked a nipple, causing shivers to ripple through her body.

Leyvaten could feel the heat in her body travelling down to her nethers as her mate continued to suckle and lick her breast, before he stopped at last. She watched as his tongue slid down her belly all the way to her slit, which happened to be the green diamond-shaped flesh down there. Once there, Stardust didn't hesitate to dip his tongue into her hole as deeply as he could. The pleasure shot through her nerves with such force that Leyvaten's cunt, already wet and ready, couldn't help but let her juices shoot all over his muzzle and into his mouth. Apparently, he didn't mind, because he just returned to kissing her mouth with his filthy one, and once he pulled back, he found how ready she was.

"_Ready, love?"_ He whispered into her ear, his member having become fully erect while he'd played with her.

"_More than you think,"_ Leyvaten answered, kissing him deeply.

Stardust didn't pull back from the caress, even as they moaned heavily when he pushed into her cunt as far as he could go. He had to, however, when he started to pull out as slowly as possible, opting to take this enjoyment slow and make it that much better. He couldn't have been more correct, because doing it this way felt so much more intense. It was just so incredibly strong, that Stardust could only do this a couple of times, before his lover's inner muscles pulsed and clenched on his length, convincing it to fill her insides with his hot seed. Several moments passed before Stardust kissed his lover once more, if only for a few moments.

"_Mmm... you're as lovely as ever,"_ She whispered to him softly.

"_Glad to hear it,"_ Stardust replied.

"_As much as I love you, are you going to let me free?" _Leyvaten asked when he didn't pull out after a few minutes.

"_No, I think I'll stay with you for the night,"_ Stardust replied slyly. _"You're too sexy to let go."_

The dragoness blushed heavily, but she decided that she didn't really mind. Having him in there kinda made her feel complete – not to mention it felt really nice – so she just made it so they were lying on their sides instead, before they fell asleep long after everyone else already had. Thankfully, they were awake in time to clean themselves and appear as if nothing had happened.

"_So we're going?"_ Stardust asked Yusei, ready to head out to where they would meet Kalin and finally fight again.

"Yeah, and Leyvaten's going with the twins and Trudge to Devack's place," Yusei answered.

"Wait, Yusei, you can hear the cards, too?" Crow asked, eyes widening as he noticed his friend answer the dragon whom had apparently spoken. Yusei smirked.

"Just my own," He answered.

"Since when?"

"Since I helped him learn how to do it," Jake answered, grinning.

"You can _teach_ us how to hear our cards?" Crow asked, staring. Jake rubbed his head sheepishly as everyone else was also doing the same, except for the two dragons and Yusei, whom was checking his deck one more time.

"Can I suggest we save it for another time?" Jake said. "Because that's what it takes, and we don't have that kind of luxury."

"He's right," Yusei agreed. "It takes time that we don't have."

The group finally snapped out of their stupor, and went on their way. Leyvaten and Stardust nodded to each other, before launching into the air to follow their duelists.

"_So how do you plan on going against Kalin?"_ Stardust asked Yusei as he rode on to the dueling site. The duelist looked down at his runner's screen.

"...I don't know," He answered. Stardust remained silent, letting the young man think. "After I faced him the first time... I became kind of scared."

"_...Did something help you get over it?"_

Yusei remained silent for a time, then smirked up to Stardust, whom blinked.

"You did, actually," Yusei explained, before turning his attention back to where he was driving his duel runner. Crashing before a duel did _not_ sound appealing. "After Jake taught me how to listen to you guys, and after that duel with Roman _while_ being able to hear you, it really helped."

"_Glad to be of assistance,"_ Stardust smirked.

"Although the part of you demanding to fight by Leyvaten's side was an added entertainment bonus."

Stardust's face flushed at the reminder, but he smirked instead.

"_Right... it's just like how devoted you are to Akiza,"_ He teased in return. Yusei had to fight to keep his face from turning red, but then Stardust's sudden serious manner startled him.

"What's wrong?" Yusei asked, before seeing a giant beam of light appear in the distance. "That's coming from... Luna's direction!"

"_They must be in trouble," _Stardust guessed. _"The duel monster spirit world is in trouble if Luna's being called to it."_

"What? She's gone? We have to go over there!"

Stardust nodded, before his eyes widened suddenly. He could sense something approaching their allies over there.

"_Yusei, give me my card,"_ Stardust demanded, holding out a hand. Yusei blinked, even as he turned around to go to where the light originated from.

"What? Why?" Yusei rambled, confused.

"_Leyvaten's about to battle, and I'm not letting her fight alone!"_

Yusei blinked, before he smiled and nodded, tossing the card to the dragon, whom nodded in thanks. Then Stardust launched himself at the originating point where he could feel a duel about to begin, with Leyvaten with her duelist. As it turns out, over at that spot, he was right.

"Who are you? You're not a signer!" Devack, the man who had captured Ancient Fairy Dragon's card, demanded of Jake and Leo as they approached and he recognized such info.

"Just because we're not signers doesn't mean we're not duelists!" Jake snapped. There it was again, the silenced deck.

"Is something wrong, Jake? You seem kinda mad," Leo wondered.

"His deck is just like Roman's – silenced," Jake answered, trying to calm himself. "I can't hear the voices."

_And it really messes with your head,_ Leyvaten thought to herself before speaking. _"Jake, you can relax. Remember, we're all still here with you. Even if you can't hear his deck, you can still hear yours, and Leo's. Let our voices comfort you."_

Jake looked at Leyvaten, as she gently placed a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort her duelist. He sighed and smiled at her gratefully.

"Thanks," He said.

"_Wait!"_ Called a loud voice, getting Jake's attention, and he looked up to see – let's just say his eyes widened, along with Leyvaten's, and everyone else's who looked up. _"Jake, wait!"_

"What're you doing here?" Jake called out.

"_Catch!"_

"Huh?" Was all Jake could say before Stardust Dragon threw a card at the teen, who caught it perfectly, as the beast landed.

"_What're you doing here? Don't you and Yusei have a duel to get to?" _Leyvaten frowned.

"_Yeah, but it can wait," _Stardust answered. _"I sensed Luna being sent to the spirit world, and that could only mean trouble. Jake... I trust you. I'm trusting you to use that card correctly."_

Jake stared at the dragon, before nodding and placing it in the deck.

"Look, Devack," Jake said, stepping forward. "Does it matter if you're facing a Signer or not? I don't think so. So I'm challenging you to a duel!"

"Very well, I accept," Devack grinned. "Not that you can win."

"I'm going to have to disagree, because unlike _you_, my cards and I are connected. Now let's see how you can win without that."

"Hah, a connection, what a joke," Devack taunted, as the cards were shuffled and the first person to go was about to be decided.

"Looks like I go first," Jake said, drawing his first hand, as did Devack.

"Duel!"

_Devack: 4000 LP_

_Jake: 4000 LP_

"I draw!" Jake exclaimed, taking the top card of his deck, and looking over his hand. With the entirety of both his, and Leo's, deck comforting him, he wasn't so on edge from Devack's muted deck. _Not a bad starting hand, guys, thanks._

"Listen up, 'cause I only say things once!" Jake ordered, as the extra slot of his disk opened. "First things first – I'm activating a field spell card called Dragon Ravine! I'm not activating its effect, so I won't tell you about it yet. In the meantime, I'm placing two cards facedown, and putting a monster in facedown defense mode. Take your best shot, Devack."

"Don't mind if I do," the Dark Signer smirked, drawing one of his favorite cards.

"Pause! Now that it's your standby phase, I'm allowed to activate this trap," Jake said, pointing to a card that flipped up. "It's called the Legacy of Yata-Garasu. It allows me to draw one card."

"Fine, it won't help you as I bring out Magician Ape! Sadly, your card is facedown, so I can't use his effect, but I can attack!"

_Magician Ape (Beast/Effect): 800 ATK/1200 DEF, 3 Stars_

_(Cannot be special summoned. Once per turn, discard one monster to select one face-up monster your opponent controls, and take control of it until the end phase.)_

"No, you can't, because I'm activating my other trap – Windstorm of Etequa! It forces all face-up monsters to change battle positions, even in the middle of the battle phase."

"Very well, I'll end my turn there."

"Then I draw," Jake said, growing calmer and calmer as the voices of the decks continued to comfort him. It really helped. "First, my Pot of Greed. I draw two cards... hmm, thanks, guys."

Jake paused to think of how to do this, and then he decided.

"Pay close attention, because if you blink, you'll miss it," Jake smirked. "First, I summon Dragunity Pilum to the field. That allows me to special summon another Dragunity monster and equip it with Pilum."

_Dragunity Pilum (Dragon/Tuner): 1400 ATK/1000 DEF, 3 Stars_

_(When normal summoned, you may special summon a winged-beast type monster from your hand and equip it with this card. While this card is equipped to a monster, that monster may attack your opponent directly for half of its attack points.)_

Dragunity Militum appeared, equipped with Pilum.

_Dragunity Militum (Winged-Beast/Effect): 1700 ATK/1200 DEF, 4 Stars_

_(Once per turn, special summon one "Dragunity" card in your spell & trap card zone.)_

"Then I activate Card Destruction!" Jake's smirk grew as Devack's shrank. "Now, I remove from play Dragunity Militum and Dragunity Pilum, to let me special summon Dragunity Arma Leyvaten!"

_Dragunity Arma Leyvaten (Dragon/Effect): 2600 ATK/1200 DEF, 8 Stars_

_(Special summon this card by removing from play one monster that is equipped with a "Dragunity" monster. When summoned, select one dragon-type monster in your graveyard, except this one, and equip it to Leyvaten. When Leyvaten is destroyed, the card equipped to it is special summoned.)_

"And I'm equipping her with Dragunity Arma Mystletainn!" Jake exclaimed, as Leyvaten's assistant appeared.

"_Looks like you really do have a real body now, Mistress,"_ Mystletainn smiled to the leader of Dragon Ravine, whom smiled and nodded.

The real-body version of the dragoness was unaffected by the appearance of the hologram, thankfully. Now to see if anything else would happen.

"I end my turn with a facedown!"

Devack drew the Fighter Ape, and came to a decision quickly.

"I'm going to activate Magician Ape's effect and take control of your Leyvaten," Devack smirked at Jake's scowl. "And attack your facedown monster with Magician Ape!"

"That's fine, because it's Twin-Headed Behemoth!" Jake called, as the beast appeared, then re-appeared. "As a result of his effect, he comes back in face-up defense position."

"That's fine, because your Leyvaten will attack him!"

Jake covered his face with his arms as his own monster was forced to attack Behemoth. Thankful that he could still hear Leyvaten's voice, it kept him from getting too frustrated at the situation. Then, finally, he was allowed to draw. After looking at his hand and the field, Jake smirked.

"I end my turn," He said. Leyvaten knew what he was up to, but Leo, and everyone else watching, just gawked.

"Have you given up, non-Signer?" Devack taunted, as he drew. "I'm going to attack you directly with both monsters!"

Jake's smirk grew, even as he threw up his arms to protect himself from the painful physical damage. When the smoke cleared from what _would_ have been serious damage, one would find Jake still standing, and his life points looking better than before!

"What?" Devack exclaimed, the watchers blinking. "What'd you do?"

"Just before the attacks landed, I activated my trap card," Jake explained, pointing out the now face-up pink colored card. "It's called Enchanted Javelin. When you attack, I can activate this, and your monster's attack points are added to my life points!"

"Fine," Devack growled. "I end my turn."

_Devack: 4000 LP_

_Jake: 7400 LP_

"And Leyvaten gets to come back to my side!" Jake grinned as he drew. "Once I've drawn... I'll place one card facedown, and have Leyvaten destroy your monkey!"

Devack didn't flinch as Magician Ape was hit and destroyed, costing him life points.

_Devack: 2200 LP_

_Jake: 7400 LP_

"Then it's back to you," Jake commented.

"Then I draw," Devack said, looking at his hand. "I summon Dark Tuner Dark Ape in defense mode, and that'll end my turn with a facedown."

"Good, means I draw," Jake glanced at the new card. "And Leyvaten attacks!"

"I activate Negate Attack! Now the battle phase ends and your attack doesn't go through."

Jake sighed and passed the turn over to the Dark Signer, who drew. The man played another Ape Magician, but instead of taking control of Leyvaten again, he used a card that would allow him to summon once more. As a result, he summoned Fighter Ape, before using Dark Wave to change Fighter Ape's level.

"Now Fighter Ape's level has gone from five, to negative five!" Devack laughed. "Now, Dark Tuner Dark Ape – Dark tune with Fighter Ape!"

Jake winced as the beast, Zeman the Ape King, was dark synchro summoned. The 'king' had no card-based voice, and like always, it freaked Jake out. Thankfully, the two decks still nearby him, along with Yusei's as the duelist arrived, helped to keep him from getting too bad.

_Zeman the Ape King (Beast/Synchro/Effect): 2500 ATK/1800 DEF, 7 Stars_

_(When attacking with this card, your opponent cannot activate spells or trap cards until the end of the damage step. When an opponent's monster attacks, you may discard one monster to negate the attack.)_

"Sadly, he's not as strong as Leyvaten, so I'll end my turn there, non-signer," Devack grinned. Jake drew as a result.

_Heh... I guess I know who wants to come out,_ Jake smirked.

Leyvaten's card had been out for a while, and he could hear Stardust's demanding that it be played the entire time. It wouldn't allow Leyvaten to fight alone, it seemed. Jake glanced at the real Leyvaten, who smirked at her duelist.

"Alright, listen up," Jake said. "I'm only going to do this one time, and if you blink, you'll miss it. First, I summon Dragunity Darkspear to the field!"

_Dragunity Darkspear (Dragon/Tuner): 1000 ATK/1000 DEF, 3 Stars_

_(Once per turn, tribute one face-up dragon-type "Dragunity" monster to select 1 level 4 or lower Winged Beast-type monster in your graveyard, and special summon it.)_

"A tuner monster!" Leo exclaimed, as Trudge and Yusei, also watching, were interested in how this would go.

"That's right," Jake said. "But I'm not going to be tuning anything right now, so instead, I'll be activating a little trap card I have."

A card flipped face-up, looking like the sun was transferring a wall of light into the ground in its artwork.

"It's called Wall of Revealing Light," Jake began. "First, I pay up a certain amount of life points, and I'm paying 3000."

_Devack: 2200 LP_

_Jake: 4400 LP_

"Now, from now until you destroy this card, no monster on your side of the field with 3000 or fewer attack points is allowed to attack! So I think I'll end my turn with a facedown card."

As the duel continued, Luna kept going through the duel monsters spirit world to save it, and Ancient Fairy Dragon. Currently, she was close to reaching the castle with Regulus and Torunka. In the meantime, however, Devack was realizing that this non-Signer was quite the powerful duelist. The Dark Signer had yet to even touch the boy's life points. Even so, as he drew, he smirked at what he got.

"First, I'm destroying your field spell with one of my own – Closed Forest!"

Jake frowned as this happened, placing the spell card in the graveyard. As he did so, Regulus and Luna and Torunka were finally fighting Zeman in the spirit world, hoping to free Ancient Fairy Dragon from the crag she was sealed in. As both fights continued, Devack was able to finally summon the Earthbound Immortal Cusillu by tributing Zeman the Ape King along with a Magican Ape he'd special summoned from a card effect.

_Earthbound Immortal Cusillu (Beast/Effect): 2800 ATK/2400 DEF, 10 Stars_

_(If there is no face-up field spell, destroy this monster. This card cannot be selected as an attack target. This card may attack directly. You may tribute one face-up card if this card would be destroyed by battle, tribute one monster and halve your opponent's life points.)_

As a result of the field spell card, however, the beast's attack rose to 3600.

"That's... not good..." Jake commented at the attack power.

"That's right it's not good, because I can now attack you directly!"

Jake decided that it would be best to take the attack, but the problem was, how could he take it and survive? Apparently, Leyvaten, in her real body, saw to that. She picked up her duelist, while Stardust grabbed Leo, and the dragons helped the two avoid most of the backlash of the attack, which the surrounding purple flames made real. Jake's life points, however, still took the hit.

"That should be all for now," Devack grinned.

_Devack: 2200 LP_

_Jake: 800 LP_

"Then I'll draw," Jake said, once the boys were placed back down on the ground. "First I'll activate Dian Keto the Cure Master, which grants me a thousand life points."

_Devack: 2200 LP_

_Jake: 1800 LP_

"Now I'll summon Armed Dragon LV3 to the field, before activating his effect, which allows me to summon the LV5 version!"

_Armed Dragon LV5 (Dragon/Effect): 2400 ATK/1700 DEF, 5 Stars_

_(You may discard one monster to select one face-up monster your opponent controls with fewer attack points than the one you discarded. The selected monster is destroyed. During the end phase of the turn this card destroys a monster by battle, you can this card to the graveyard to special summon Armed Dragon LV7.)_

"Now for a little surprise... I'm having Darkspear tune with Armed Dragon for a synchro summon!"

As the rings appeared and the target tuned dragon jumped in, things happened. First, Luna finally reappeared, having, with Jake's help while he dueled Devack, successfully freed Ancient Fairy Dragon from her rock prison. The teen acknowledged her arrival with a nod, as the synchro summon finally completed.

"Everyone give a warm welcome to Stardust Dragon!" Jake exclaimed, said beast finally appearing. Leyvaten's sly smirk to her mate made him blush, but Jake wisely chose to ignore it. "And since you don't have any other cards on the field to take the fall, I think both of these guys will attack you directly, because Cusillu can't be a target!"

Devack suddenly realized the fatal flaw in the plan, even as both holographic versions of the dragons charged forth and attacked. Leyvaten struck first with her giant blade, then Stardust gave a little victory insurance with his cosmic blast. Several things happened at once as a result. First, all the holograms vanished. Second, as Devack vanished, Luna's dragon card was left behind. Finally, the tower they stood in front of soon collapsed into the ground after they'd activated it, and Jake returned Stardust's card to Yusei. Now for the other towers to be taken care of...

* * *

><p><strong>Credit:<strong> It all goes to me this time! :D

**A/N:** I certainly hope you all enjoyed that! Reviews are most appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Well, this chapter is a bit shorter than the others, but hopefully you all like it. :)

* * *

><p><em><strong>Connections<strong>_

"Yusei, shouldn't you be going to face your friend?" Jake asked the pro duelist.

"Yeah, I need to go find him and face him again," Yusei said, heading over to his runner.

"_First I think we should check out that mark,"_ Stardust intervened, pointing out the mark of what appeared to be a killer whale in the sky. _"Your marks aren't lighting up, so that means it can't be a Signer dueling. A bigger question is who the Dark Signer is, though."_

"_As far as we know, there isn't a Dark Signer with a whale for a symbol,"_ Leyvaten agreed.

"We need to go check it out and make sure that the duel is stopped," Yusei said, getting into his duel runner as quickly as he could.

"Yusei, wait!" Jake exclaimed, dashing over. He held out a card. "Don't forget this."

"Thanks," Yusei nodded as he took back Stardust's card. Then he realized there was more than one card there, and looked at the others before looking back at his newest friend.

"Can't exactly let you leave without returning the favor, can we?" Jake rhetorically asked, smirking at Leyvaten's resulting slight blush, which only grew from Stardust's sly one. "Just don't forget to play them together. You know how much they like that."

The faces of the dragons turned such a deep red at this that it was a wonder Leo missed it completely. The rest of them, however, laughed at their expense, the duelists opting to ignore the resulting glares that were meant to melt them. Leyvaten and Stardust gave up and opted to head up into the air, probably hoping the cooler atmosphere would help. Quickly enough, those not riding Yusei's duel runner hopped into Trudge's car and they went off to the place with the killer whale sign. As they approached, Yusei and Stardust went on ahead while Leyvaten stayed with her own duelist.

"Where's the duel?" Jake wondered.

"_I don't know,"_ Leyvaten admitted, even as she flew higher to get a better view. _"It must be underneath something, because I can't see it, even from up here."_

"Hey, Jake..." Luna began to say, catching the teen's attention.

"What's up, Luna?" Jake asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

"May I see your deck?"

Jake blinked at the request, and after making sure it was alright with his cards, he nodded and handed it over. He had a feeling as to why, so he didn't ask. Leo had no such reservations.

"What's wrong, sis?" Leo asked, wondering if he should be worried or not.

"I think I know why, Leo," Jake said, as he could hear his deck conversing with the young girl. "She's currently talking to the spirits in my deck."

"Why?" Trudge decided to ask.

"Hmm... I think she's curious about me and stuff like that," Jake guessed, shrugging. "She'll tell us when she's done. Let's just keep going, she should finish talking with them soon."

Trudge nodded, and just as the teen had predicted, Luna soon finished and handed back the deck to its owner. She seemed to have gotten the answers she'd been looking for.

"So what were you asking about?" Jake asked, as he carefully returned his cards to the deck box on his belt.

"I was wondering if they knew where you learned how to talk with them," Luna admitted.

"...Now why hadn't I thought to ask that?"

"_Because you're an idiot?"_ Leyvaten asked rhetorically, as she came closer to them.

"Hey!"

"_You earned it with that earlier remark."_

"Yeah, but notice how earlier you never denied it."

"What'd she say?" Leo asked, curious.

"Never mind," Jake answered, shaking his head. "Anyway, why don't we head on over to that Mark of the Giant? We can meet Yusei and Stardust there as soon as he's done with whatever he's doing."

"How will they know to go there?" Trudge asked.

"Simple. Mystletainn could relay that to Yusei's deck, who can relay it to him."

"_I vote that someone else goes, I'm not feeling well,"_ Mystletainn called to her duelist and Leyvaten. The two looked at each other and snickered.

"What'd she say?" Luna asked, just as confused as the rest of the people in the vehicle.

"We'll have to send someone else instead," Jake answered, smirking. "Mystletainn isn't 'feeling well', as she said. So, Mist Valley Falcon, would you be willing to go instead?"

"_Sure,"_ Falcon answered, before vanishing from contact range. He soon returned. _"Alright, I passed on the message. They'll meet us at the Mark of the Giant."_

"Thanks," Jake replied. "Alright, they'll meet us there, so we can head on over."

"But what exactly is going on down where they are?" Trudge wondered, even as he started to head to where the tower would be.

"Good question..." Jake began. He pulled out his deck. "You know, one of you guys should just become a temporary messenger between your ravine and Stardust's, at least until... have you announced your decision yet, Leyvaten?"

"_No, but I was going to after our duel with Roman,"_ Leyvaten admitted, easily keeping pace with the car.

"_Tell us what?" _Falcon decided to ask, the entirety of the ravine knowing of her situation. Since she was outside of their domain, yet talking, she was basically talking to everyone there.

"She has a –"

"_Jake!"_ Leyvaten interrupted, glaring daggers at him. She scowled at his grin.

"Embarrassing her again?" Trudge asked.

"Oh yeah," Jake smirked. "And in front of the entire dragon ravine she's in charge of."

"_Okay, now we _really_ want to know,"_ Dragunity Darkspear said, as he noticed how many of the ravine's citizens were in rapt attention. _"Everyone's waiting to hear what's going on."_

"Leyvaten, you may as well tell them now and get it over with... of course, if you're too embarrassed, _I_ could tell them for you."

"_You wouldn't dare,"_ Leyvaten stared at her duelist, as they arrived at the destination. The dragon landed by Jake, staring at him in what could account for horror.

"What are you talking about?" Luna asked.

"Guys, plug your ears for a minute," Jake directed to his deck, before explaining to the three humans that were there. "Leyvaten and Stardust have... how should I put this? Well, let's just say that they've started dating."

Trudge, being the adult he was, grinned at the meaning behind the teen's words, while the twins, considering their younger age, took it for mostly its face value. Leyvaten's face flushed, although she was grateful that her duelist would let her tell her ravine by herself.

"Okay, c'mon, Leyvaten," Jake said, allowing the deck's members to listen again. "You know you have to tell them sooner or later, may as well get it over with. Of course, Mystletainn could do it for you."

"_I'll only let her do it on one condition, and I think she knows what I'm talking about,"_ Leyvaten smirked amidst her red countenance.

"_I think I'll let you do it, mistress,"_ Mystletainn mumbled. Leyvaten and Jake shared a smirk. The teen let the dragon take a hold of the deck, as he went over to greet Crow and Yusei, whom were just arriving.

"What's she doing?" Yusei asked, interested as he checked over his deck one more time.

"Announcing her connection to Stardust and how they'd like to... well, he knows what I'm talking about."

Stardust decided not to answer, but instead sighed quietly as he realized he needed to do the same with his own place. He chose to save it for after the duel with Kalin.

"_You ready for this, Yusei?"_ Stardust asked his partner. The Signer sighed and put his deck back in its correct slot.

"Let's go before I change my mind," Yusei said.

"_I can't help you in the duel in this physical body, so I'll stay back here. Just don't forget that you can still hear me and everyone else in the deck. If Kalin starts to really get under your skin, pause and listen to us, alright?"_

"...Thanks," Yusei smiled, before he raced on to where the tower was. Stardust headed over to Leyvaten, whom was attempting to figure out how to word her announcement.

"_Everyone, umm..." _Leyvaten began, trying to phrase this correctly. She ended up deciding upon the direct and blunt option. _"Stardust and I have been considering merging our ravines into one."_

There were a few quiet murmurs from Jake's deck at this, then Dragunity Mystletainn decided to help her mistress spit out the reason.

"_Why's that, mistress?"_ Mystletainn asked for the citizens of the place. They stopped to listen.

"_This is Stardust speaking,"_ Stardust said when his mate couldn't seem to find the words for the answer to the query. _"We're merging our ravines because, umm..."_

Jake, realizing how much trouble the two were having admitting the truth, rolled his eyes and came over before snatching the deck – gently, of course – from Leyvaten's gentle grip. Thankfully, everyone else was too busy watching the screen on Crow's duel runner and keeping an eye on the starting turbo duel that was going on down the way.

"They want to merge the ravines because these two have become..." Jake paused to consider his wording options. Then his smirk caused the two to blush furiously. "They've become _romantically attatched_ and can't get enough of each other's company."

There was a silence from the deck and its inhabitants for a short time.

"_Mistress, why didn't you say so sooner?"_ Mist Valley Falcon said after a while.

"_Yeah, congratulations!"_ Dragunity Darkspear agreed. There were many monsters voicing the same thing for a few while. _"A merge with another ravine should be a lot of fun. I mean, we all know each other so well, and it's always fun to meet new people."_

"_So you're all fine with it?"_ Leyvaten blinked. Her face refused to drop the red as everyone confirmed this. _"Wow... thanks, everyone..."_

"_Before you merge us, are you going to introduce Stardust to our..."_ Genesis Dragon paused, the smirk on his face far too obvious even without seeing it. _"Monthly festival?"_

Stardust looked at his mate, whom was smirking at the thought of it, but she convinced him she'd explain another time, saying a demonstration was sort of required. Jake left the deck with the ravine's leader and headed back to watch the duel through Crow's duel runner once more. Yusei continued to try to reason with his old friend, but he hardly succeeded. After a while, his deck, along with the cards of the real-life monsters – which allowed them to talk to him – convinced him that the only way to save Kalin was to beat him.

"I summon Dragunity Arma Leyvaten!" Yusei exclaimed, accepting the two dragons' advice. "I'm doing so by sacrificing Quillbolt Hedgehog and Dragunity Pilum! As a result of her effect, Pilum returns equipped to her!"

Kalin grit his teeth as the powerful dragoness appeared next to Stardust Dragon. After placing a couple of cards facedown, he ended his turn and let his friend go... whom immediantly began to chuckle darkly, before full-on laughing.

"That can't be good, can it?" Luna asked.

"I summon the Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu!" Exclaimed, causing the enormous beast to appear.

"No, it's not good, Luna," Jake decided to answer. "But Yusei can win. I know he can."

Jake's belief that his friend could win only became stronger when he successfully used the Majestic Dragon tuner monster to synchro summon Majestic Star Dragon. Even though the holographic versions of themselves didn't react, the real-life ones did. Stardust blushed at the way Leyvaten looked at him.

"_I hope you know how sexy you look in that form,"_ Leyvaten whispered to him, sidling up close to his side and gently wrapping a powerful arm around his waist and bringing him ever closer to him.

"_Oh, please," _Stardust countered, smirking so slyly it's a wonder Leyvaten's face didn't turn beet red in response. _"My looks are nothing like yours."_

"_Normally, I would say that flattery gets you nowhere... but I think I'll let you have the exception."_

Stardust just smiled and held her close, as he watched his holographic representation pierce Ccapac Apu and defeat Kalin at last. The moment the flames died down and Yusei's old friend vanished, the dragon excused himself and raced to his teammate's side, gently offering comfort.

"_Yusei..."_ Stardust said quietly.

"They'll _pay_ for what they've done," Yusei hissed, eyes narrowed as he stood from where he'd been holding onto one of his closest friends. "Stardust, they'll _pay_!"

There was a short silence.

"_And I, along with the rest of the deck, will be there to help you,"_ Stardust told him. Yusei looked at his friend, and nodded.

"Thank you," Yusei said, as the rest of his friends arrived. He held out the two cards Jake had lent him, whom returned them to their point of origin. "Thanks for lending those to me. Leyvaten really helped to win."

"Of course," Jake nodded.

Leyvaten approached Stardust, whom was watching the exchange quietly.

"_Is something on your mind, love?"_ Leyvaten asked.

"_Just that a really big duel is about to go down,"_ Stardust admitted after a moment. _"I get the feeling we're going to face someone we've already gone against... and that perhaps Jake and Yusei should team up again."_

"_If it's who I think you're talking about, I'm sure that they will."_

Stardust took a few moments to think to himself, before turning to Leyvaten with a look of confusion and question on his countenance.

"_Someone in your ravine mentioned a monthly festival... what's it all about?"_ Stardust asked. Leyvaten's sly grin made him all the more interested.

"_I can't just tell you about it, you have to experience it!"_ Leyvaten said. _"Trust me, words fail to do it justice. It isn't coming up for a while, though, so don't worry about it. By the time it does, we should be back there. That's when you'll find out."_

Stardust realized he wouldn't get anymore answers out of his mate, but decided that it would be best to wait. After all, the group of them were on the move again, considering that a Dark Signer had just contacted them – and, just as the dragon had predicted, both Yusei and Jake had been challenged to a duel. Leyvaten hoped that Jake would be able to keep from being so on edge, the way he was the past couple of times. Such hopes were common throughout his entire deck, as the group moved out to the location of the duel...

* * *

><p><strong>Credit:<strong> Oh yeah, it's all mine this time. :D

**A/N:** For those of you who are wondering what this "monthly festival" is all about, I won't tell. It's not just secret... it's top secret!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Well, here you go everyone. Enjoy! :)

* * *

><p><em><strong>Connections<strong>_

"I guess Roman wants a rematch," Jake said, as they headed in that direction. Towards where there was a gigantic hole in the ground... the original Ener-D reactor site. "But like he said, I'm not a signer. Why would he be interested in me?"

"Is it because you can communicate with the cards as easily as you talk to people?" Yusei decided to take a guess.

"It's possible," Jake shrugged. "I doubt it, though. I mean, so what if I can talk? Anybody can do it."

"Really?" Trudge asked.

"Even the Dark Signers would be able to learn how."

"Doesn't it take a good, honest heart?"

"No, just an open one. It doesn't matter if the heart's bad or good, as far as I know. It just has to be open enough to listen to the words coming from the deck's heart. It also takes time, because once you've opened yourself enough to hear your own deck, you have to keep the connection open long enough for it to become permanent."

"You said you taught Yusei. How long did that take?"

"It took me a couple of hours for it to stay," Yusei said. "By the time it did, you guys arrived, remember?"

"But Jake," Luna said. "You can also hear everyone else's decks. Why is that?"

"...Once I find out, I'll let you know," Jake admitted, rubbing his head sheepishly. "I just remember that when I started hearing other decks, I'd already been talking with mine for a couple of months. It makes for interesting conversation, though."

"How so?" Trudge asked, as Jake grinned.

"Yusei knows what I'm talking about," The teen said. "Actually being able to hear the cards is really interesting. Especially since they all have things to say the moment you can hear them. Not to mention that it helps you learn about them."

"_What'd you learn about me?"_ Leyvaten asked, kinda interested.

"Well, I learned that you were the leader of the ravine, and I learned you guys actually lived in the same ravine as the field spell card for the deck," Jake answered. "I had no idea about that before."

"Does every deck have a leader and home?" Leo asked, wondering about his own deck.

"From what I hear of yours, Power Tool Dragon is the leader, and they live in a machine factory," Jake replied. Leyvaten snickered at what she next heard, her duelist struggling to keep a straight face.

"_And now he says that he needs to teach you to calm down,"_ Leyvaten laughed, as Stardust did his best to not fall into the same fit.

"What?" Leo asked.

"Never mind," Jake chuckled. "How close are we to reaching the place?"

"Not too far," Trudge answered. "Give it a couple more minutes."

"Stardust?" Yusei began to say quietly, getting the dragon's attention.

"_What's up, Yusei?"_ Stardust asked when his partner paused.

"Why'd you choose me?" Yusei asked. Stardust didn't even pretend to not understand.

"_I don't know, actually," _Stardust admitted after a short time. _"I just remember my card falling into your hands, and I just knew I was supposed to be in your deck. Even though you couldn't hear me back then, I guess you could say it was an instantaneous friendship."_

Yusei looked at the dragon, whom smirked in return.

"_Do you have any idea how pissed I was at Jack when he stole me? I was just as mad at him as you were. I still haven't quite forgiven him."_

Yusei smiled, nodding. He thanked the dragon for explaining, who nodded, as they drew ever closer to the place of the rematch against Roman.

"What do you think got Jake to be able to hear cards?" Yusei's next question was, as they approached.

"_I'm still looking into that, actually,"_ Stardust answered. _"I know he says the talking thing only requires an open heart, and that's part of it... but he does it so naturally... I think there's something extra in it for him."_

"That's what I was thinking as well," Yusei agreed. "He's a really good duelist, but I think that's a result of being able to hear them."

"_I know that his deck says nothing about what's coming up next during a duel, so it's not cheating."_

"I've noticed that during the duels with the Dark Signers, he always seems so tense. It probably has to do with their decks being silenced."

"_He must be so accustomed to hearing a deck's voice that it really doesn't sit well with him,"_ Stardust said. Glancing at the teen, Jake appeared to be trying to mentally prepare himself for that very thing. _"Leyvaten says that his entire deck has never seen him so upset. Apparently it's never happened before."_

"Was Leyvaten the only one to say that?" Yusei asked. Stardust blushed slightly at the implication, but he shook his head.

"_No. During our first duel with Roman, I could feel Jake's entire deck being anxious about how he felt, all the way from your extra deck."_

"It was that bad?" Yusei seemed surprised, and as it turned out, he was.

"_It was,"_ Leyvaten intervened. She had noticed the conversation and, although it had taken a bit, she knew what it was about, and had come over. Jake was too busy inside his own head to notice. _"He was in a really bad state. I speak for my entire ravine when I say we were desperate to calm him down, and even though he could clearly hear us, for some reason, nothing we said helped."_

"What about when he went against Devack? And why didn't he freak out during my duel against Kalin?"

"_Against Devack I convinced him to comfort himself with the voices of the surrounding decks that he could hear. It helped, but not nearly as much as we liked. I think it may actually hurt him, but he refuses to show it, even to us."_

"We're a few minutes away," Yusei told the dragons. He was glad that giving them both real bodies made him able to understand Leyvaten, but he still couldn't hear anybody else's deck.

"_Has your ravine gotten in contact with other dragons?" _Stardust asked his mate. _"Perhaps an outside perspective may help."_

Leyvaten thought for a while about that idea.

"_There may be someone out there that could help,"_ She said at length. _"But it will have to wait until after this duel. Everyone in his deck needs to be there."_

Yusei nodded, as they finally arrived at the crater Roman said to go to.

"You ready for this, Jake? He wants a two-on-one again," Yusei said as everyone left Trudge's car. "His deck probably hasn't changed all that much, meaning it's probably still silenced."

"Yeah... let's just get this over with," Jake said, beginning to walk down the steps to where they would probably be dueling.

Yusei caught up quickly, as did the two dragons. Everyone else fell in step behind them, Crow going to investigate something else. It would be quite a ways down the steps.

"Were you talking to Leyvaten and Stardust about how I talk to the cards?" Jake asked Yusei after a while. The pro duelist glanced at the teen.

"Yeah, we were," Yusei admitted. "We're a little worried. Are you going to be alright?"

Jake took a moment to think, to phrase his answer in the right way.

"I was hiding it ever since that first time," Jake began to explain. "But... I think that because I'm so used to hearing decks and I connect to them so easily, that... well, the decks are silenced, but the dark voices that _do_ get through actually kind of hurt. They're always so dark and menacing. Since it's my heart that's listening to them, it kinda hurts me to hear it."

"_So I was right,"_ Leyvaten said with a sigh. _"Jake, will you share how much it hurts you?"_

"I don't want to hurt you," Jake answered, shaking his head.

"_And we don't want you to bear the burden of it alone," _Mystletainn intervened. _"We're a team, aren't we?"_

Jake hesitated. He really didn't want to even risk hurting the spirits of his deck by opening up and sharing the pain that came from the decks the Dark Signers used.

"_Just do it,"_ Leyvaten said gently.

Jake sighed and gingerly opened up that spot where he'd hidden what he'd felt with each duel against the Dark Signers. When the connection was fully open, Stardust faltered in his flight alongside his mate as they travelled down the steps.

"Stardust? Are you alright?" Yusei asked upon noticing this.

"_Jake, was it really that bad?"_ Stardust inquired of the teen.

"What?" Jake was clearly surprised.

"_Jake, even _I_ could feel that,"_ Stardust said. _"If the pain was strong enough for it to surge through the connection to _me_, you really should have let us know sooner."_

"_Why didn't you?" _Leyvaten asked. Make that demanded. Jake winced from her tone. _"You know very well that we could have taken it."_

"_Jake, that was serious,"_ Mystletainn snapped at her duelist. _"The ravine itself shook, Jake. Not very much, but it did."_

"_That just means you should have told us sooner,"_ Leyvaten growled.

"Did something happen?" Yusei asked.

"I was hiding a lot," Jake answered at length. "A lot of pain. I still don't know why the silenced decks hurt as much as they do, but with as much as I hid... when I finally showed it, my deck's entire ravine shook."

"_And even I was able to feel it, and maybe even some of other members of Yusei's deck,"_ Stardust interjected.

"Why did your deck's _home_ feel it?" Yusei asked, even as they were only a couple of minutes away from the duelling site.

"_He's that connected to us, Yusei,"_ Leyvaten answered for her duelist. Her tone proved how furious she was with him. _"Jake, don't you ever _dare_ to hide something like that from us again, or so help me, that will be the least of your worries."_

"You're right... I'm sorry," Jake whispered. Leyvaten softened up a touch.

"_Jake, don't forget – we chose you as our duelist just as you chose us as your deck," _Leyvaten said, as the place of the duel began to enter their line of sight. _"And if you ever do that again I will have your hide!"_

Jake smiled at Leyvaten. Just like her to say something like that. Stardust made a mental note to not anger his mate. Then again, he'd probably do the same to his own duelist.

"Now are you ready for this?" Yusei asked his friend.

"Yeah," Jake nodded. "Thanks, guys."

"_What are teammates and friends for?"_ Leyvaten asked rhetorically, as they finally, at last, arrived.

"So you're finally here," Roman said, grinning all the while. "I'm ready for our little rematch against Signer and non-Signer."

Jake flinched at the silent deck the Dark Signer still held, but this time, he kept the connection open. Whatever voices were in those cards that hurt... at least the burden was being shared this time so it wasn't so bad, but Leyvaten grit her teeth slightly at the feeling. They needed to beat this guy, here, now, and fast. The bridge was barely narrow enough on Roman's end to hold one person, but it seemed that the one for the two he was going against was wide enough for them. It was decided that the Dark Signer's leader would be going first.

_Roman: 8000 LP_

_Yusei: 4000 LP_

_Jake: 4000 LP_

"I'll set this one card facedown and end my turn," Roman grinned.

_Just one card? He's definitely got something bad up his sleeve,_ Jake thought, as Yusei began his turn. By the time it ended, Junk Warrior had been synchro summoned and had attacked Roman directly for a nice 2300 points of damage.

_Roman: 5700 LP_

_Yusei: 4000 LP_

_Jake: 4000 LP_

"Now my trap activates – Wolf in Sheep's Clothing! It allows me to summon two Dark Spider monsters – one from my hand, and one from my deck," Roman smirked as the beasts appeared.

"I'll end my turn by placing a card facedown," Yusei sighed, glancing to his friend. Leyvaten had her jaw clenched from what she was feeling coming from her duelist.

"My turn," Jake said. The feeling of darkness flooding through his connection to Roman's cards really hurt, and it made drawing his next card that much tougher – but he was grateful with what his deck was giving him to help. "Alright, pay attention. This only happens once."

"_Leyvaten, how are you doing?"_ Stardust asked his mate gently, as Jake summoned Dragunity Aklys to the field.

"_I'm really worried about this," _Leyvaten answered softly. _"It... it's a lot worse than I thought for him."_

"As a result of Aklys' ability, I can special summon another – and I'm summoning Leyvaten to the field, thus equipping her with Aklys," Jake said. "Then from my hand I activate Dragon Mastery. Every monster equipped with a "Dragunity" monster gains 500 attack points.

_Dragunity Arma Leyvaten: 3100 ATK/1200 DEF, 8 Stars_

"Then, also by the spell card's effect, I equip Leyvaten with Dragunity Brandistock. I'll end my turn with a facedown."

"And once it's my turn," Roman smirked. "I'll activate the field spell card Spider Web!"

"But that means...!" Yusei's eyes widened.

"That's right – I can now sacrifice my two Dark Spiders in order to summon Earthbound Immortal Uru!"

Jake clenched his jaw and grit his teeth as the emotionless voice resounded across the connection from Roman's deck, much stronger than before. Stardust had to actually gently place an arm around his mate, to help support her as the pain her duelist felt was shared among his entire deck, as he'd been convinced to do. This duel was going to be a lot more difficult than the first one against him, and that just turned out to be correct.

While Jake had helped save Yusei from taking damage for a turn, thanks to Remote Revenge stopping Roman from destroying Yusei's Synchro Barrier, the Dark Signer had still managed to eliminate two other cards in Jake's spell and trap card zone – Brandistock and Dragon Mastery. Currently, he had Leyvaten, Dragunity Pilum, and Masked Dragon out on the field in his monster card zones, while Yusei held no monsters and only a facedown... and the worst part was that the pain was only getting worse.

"I hope he's going to be alright..." Luna said quietly as Jake drew Genesis Dragon from his deck.

"I sacrifice Masked Dragon in order to summon Genesis Dragon in defense mode!" Jake said. The Dragon Ravine card in his hand was useless since Roman would probably disable it immediantly and keep it from working. "Then I'll change Pilum to defense mode, and end my turn!"

_I'm glad my deck has Skull Dice in it,_ Jake thought. _That card's been facedown for a couple turns now. It'll help save my life points, and maybe Yusei's as well... we're both getting low on those._

_Roman: 3500 LP_

_Yusei: 2400 LP_

_Jake: 900 LP_

"This is the turn that you both lose at last!" Roman exclaimed. There had been a long pause as he explained everything that had happened to cause Zero Reverse, answering many questions, but causing even more queries to pop up. "Earthbound Immortal Uru, attack Genesis Dragon!"

Jake grit his teeth as the beast was destroyed.

"You've activated his effect by destroying him," Jake said, even as the pain continued to threaten to make him black out. "All dragon-type monsters in my graveyard, excluding him, are returned to my deck."

"Two monsters won't help you," Roman chuckled darkly. "Even someone with your abilities. Now it's Yusei's turn once I activate Destiny Activator. By sending a card to the graveyard, if on your next draw you get the same type of card, your life points are cut in half!"

Yusei nodded, and drew. Glancing behind him, he saw that Stardust was currently holding up Leyvaten, whom seemed to be helping her duelist handle the agony of whatever it was. As a result of drawing Zero Gardna, Yusei's life points dropped.

_Roman: 3500 LP_

_Yusei: 1200 LP_

_Jake: 900 LP_

"I summon Zero Gardna in defense mode, place a facedown, and end my turn," Yusei said, looking to his friend.

Jake nodded, and moved his trembling hand to his deck. The very moment his fingers touched the top card, white light flashed before his eyes, blinding him. Leyvaten's head snapped up to look at her duelist, who seemed to be frozen in place.

"_Leyvaten? What's wrong? Are you alright?"_ Stardust asked his mate.

"_Jake... Jake's gone!" _Leyvaten breathed out.

"_What?"_

"_I... I can't feel the connection to him anymore! The pain is gone, but... what happened to him? What's going on?"_

"_I... I don't know..."_

Jake didn't know what was happening either. One moment he was drawing a card from his deck, trying to withstand whatever pain was aimed at him. The next... it was all gone. The bright light shining everywhere he could see seemed to be taking it away. For some reason, this brilliance seemed to be warm, helpful... he didn't feel any pain here.

"What's going on...?" He asked quietly.

_I am here to help you,_ A voice answered. Jake's eyes widened at the telepathy – but for some reason, the feminine voice only comforted him. _I cannot allow such a pure soul to be wounded as you have been enduring._

"Who... what do you mean?" Jake frowned. He wasn't that pure.

_Do not worry about that. For now, draw your card. I will be there to protect you from the pain._

"Heh, did he finally give up?" Roman smirked, but then his face fell as some sort of white light began to glow around Jake.

"_He's... he's back,"_ Leyvaten whispered, feeling even more confused. _"But the pain is still gone... how?"_

Jake ignored it all and drew the top card of his deck, hearing an unfamiliar roar of an unfamiliar dragon – that seemed to still comfort him even so. His eyes widened to a size resembling UFOs. He could hear the card demanding to be played, demanding to have the chance to destroy the Earthbound. Jake decided to not dissapoint the card's spirit, especially since it seemed to be the one defending him from the pain he'd been attempting – and failing – to endure before.

"Alright," He began to say. "I'm going to sacrifice Dragunity Pilum and Dragunity Arma Leyvaten –"

"_What?"_ The real Leyvaten whispered, wondering what was going on as the two holograms vanished.

"As a result of sending Aklys to the graveyard while equipped to a monster, I am allowed to destroy your facedown."

The upside-down card was obliterated in a shower of hologram pieces.

"Also as a result of Leyvaten's ability, Aklys returns."

The little Dragunity Aklys monster reappeared, wondering silently what was going on with his duelist.

"Now... here is what the sacrifices are for," Jake said, looking at the card in his hand with intense reverence. Only one man in history had held this card before, and since then, they'd vanished, so holding one in his hand and being allowed to play it was a high honor. "I'm summoning a monster like none other, not even your Earthbound! Come forth – Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

In a burst of brilliantly white light, the dragon appeared, roaring in defiance at the darkness seeping in heavy waves from the Earthbound Immortal. It really didn't like it when someone with a soul of light was being harmed by such a thing, hence the reason it had appeared in Jake's deck.

_Blue-Eyes White Dragon (Dragon): 3000 ATK/2500 DEF, 8 Stars_

_(This legendary dragon is a powerful engine of destruction. Virtually invincible, very few have faced this awesome creature and lived to tell the tale.)_

"Next I equip her with the spell card Mage Power! As a result, she gains 500 attack and defense points for every spell and trap card on my side of the field, and with a total of three, that's 1500!"

_Blue-Eyes White Dragon (Dragon): 4500 ATK/4000 DEF, 8 Stars_

"_Leyvaten, when... why... how does he have that card?"_ Stardust asked his mate, whom was now perfectly fine since the pain had vanished.

"_He... he doesn't," _Leyvaten answered, in just as much shock and awe as everyone else. _"I... I don't know how that card appeared in his deck... but it shouldn't be there. It wasn't there before!"_

"No! It can't be!" Roman whispered as the brilliantly beautiful and powerful dragon appeared. "Only one person has had that card! There's no way you can!"

"...You're right, I shouldn't," Jake admitted at length. "But she appeared in my deck of her own will, and demanded to have the right to face you, and I really didn't want to keep her away from that option."

Blue-Eyes glared at Roman with such vehemence it's a wonder he remained standing. She had long ago sensed Jake's bright white heart. It's what allowed him to communicate with the spirits of the cards as easily as he did. Thus she had decided to keep an eye on him, and now that he was in danger of that light being extinguished, she had opted to jump at the chance to defend him.

"Now, then, Roman," Jake said. "Your Uru can't be the target of an attack, meaning the only other target here is you! And since I see no other facedown cards, I'm not worried about anything! Blue-Eyes, end this, please."

The dragon was more than happy to comply. She opened her maw, and fired her most powerful attack directly at the Dark Signer, finally defeating him.

_Roman: 0 LP_

_Yusei: 1200 LP_

_Jake: 900 LP_

The cords of the bridge snapped as the realistic attack hit their enemy. Leyvaten and Stardust weren't quick enough to catch the duelists... at least, not both. When the bridge they'd been dueling on had fallen apart, the space Jake had been standing on buckled in a way that sent him right into Leyvaten's arms where she caught him. Yusei landed in the glowing lake of whatever-it-was below. The group of them were grateful when he was suddenly returned out of nowhere, but now that they knew he was alright, there was another question at mind.

"_How did Jake get a hold of that card?"_ Leyvaten wondered aloud.

This was one interesting mystery for them to have to solve...

* * *

><p><strong>Credit:<strong> Yeah. It's mine.

**A/N:** I apologize for leaving out a large chunk of the duel, but honestly, it's a bore to write (and I was being lazy :P). Anyway, how's that for a twist? :D


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Alright, sorry that it's been so long, but I've had some trouble getting this onto paper. And a slight lack of motivation. Either way, enjoy!

* * *

><p><em><strong>Connections<strong>_

There was a mystery going on here. First of which was about the monster Jake had just summoned, and how he'd gotten it. Second was what had happened to Yusei after he'd fallen into the lake and mysteriously reappeared in a pillar of light. Finally, the group was wondering why the Dragunity deck user was still unconscious while Yusei was awake.

"_Okay, I really need to know how he got a hold of that card," _Leyvaten said. _"Mystletainn, could you do some investigating?"_

"_I could, mistress,"_ Mystletainn answered, as she and many other citizens of the ravine watched a brand new member of the deck arrive. _"Except she's already here."_

"_Would you be the leader of this ravine?" _Blue-Eyes asked upon landing at the edge of the ravine's cliff, where Mystletainn went to meet the beautiful and powerful dragon.

"_No, I am not. Mistress Leyvaten is the leader, but she is... busy at the moment, I suppose you could say."_

"_Is there a way for me to speak to her?"_

"_I can hear you," _Leyvaten told the deck, getting the message through successfully. _"After one of the duels, Stardust and I somehow got real bodies, so I'm stuck here until I figure out a way back – but I can still communicate with you."_

Blue-Eyes seemed to pause to think for a moment.

"_Very well,"_ She said. _"I am sure you are wondering why my card suddenly appeared in your duelist's deck."_

"_Very much so," _Leyvaten admitted. _"You've already answered one question, of how he got the card, but... why did you give it to him in the first place? Don't you belong elsewhere?"_

"_Kaiba understands,"_ Blue-Eyes answered the second question. _"I already explained the situation to him. He doesn't like it, but that isn't important. As for why I came to him, well, I'm a light-attribute monster."_

"_Yes, but what does that have to do with Jake?"_

"_I suppose that you can say he is also a light-attribute monster,"_ Blue-Eyes answered. _"And with such a pure heart, I can't just sit by and let these Dark Signers mess with his head."_

Leyvaten and Stardust shared a look. Yusei glanced at them, but decided to wait to ask questions. He was only getting one half of this conversation as they climbed up the steps quickly in order to go find Akiza. They had just gotten word that Jack had won his duel against Carly, and was already heading out to find their other friend. Crow had, after running into Rex Goodwin in his investigations, learned they needed to finish this before sunset. It was now a race against time – and against this odd mystery.

"_Well, I should be thanking you,"_ Leyvaten said after a while. _"Jake was really a mess. Are you going to be staying?"_

"_Until this ridiculous mess blows over," _Blue-Eyes answered.

"_And I hope that it won't be too long,"_ Leyvaten said.

"_As do I."_

"_Mystletainn,"_ Leyvaten said to her assistant, whom had been present the entire time. _"Please see to it that Blue-Eyes has a suitable place to stay."_

Mystletainn did just that. Once Blue-Eyes had been given a place, whom was grateful for the hospitality, the assistant took the time to explain to the citizens of the ravine what was going on. In the meantime, it was imperative that the group head out.

"Are we going to take Jake in the car?" Luna asked.

"No, I think Leyvaten should carry him," Yusei suggested, getting some interesting looks. "If he's close to the leader of his deck, it may help to wake him up sooner. I think he's trying to recover from all that the duels with the Dark Signers have put him through."

Leyvaten nodded her understanding at this, but there was just one problem. She lifted it up, careful to hit nothing.

"_Alright, but who'll take this?"_ She asked, raising an eyebrow.

_"I could carry it for you,"_ Stardust offered. She smirked at the idea.

"_Are you sure you're strong enough to carry this bad boy?"_

"_Oh, just gimme that!"_ Stardust rolled his eyes and snatched the sword from his mate. Then he had second thoughts as he strained to hold it up. _"Jake's right, how do you carry this thing? It's heavy as hell!"_

Yusei laughed, as did the others. They didn't need to ask for a translation, they could understand just by the way Stardust was trying – and failing – to lift the heavy blade. His face flushed from the embarrassment.

"_Fine, let's trade,"_ Leyvaten offered. _"You carry Jake, I'll carry my blade."_

"_No, I can do it,"_ Stardust insisted, lifting off with the dragoness' sword successfully. Leyvaten, grinning, gently picked up her duelist and soon caught up. It was a lot easier to fly around without that thing, even when carrying Jake.

"Alright, we should get going," Yusei said, placing his helmet on and getting onto his runner.

The others grabbed their rides as well, and headed out to where Akiza was supposed to be. Stardust silently wondered if he could convince his lover to get a lighter blade, in case something like this ever happened again. Along the way, Leyvaten had different thoughts going through her head, but she shoved them aside when Jake finally woke up, mid-flight.

"Huh?" Jake wondered as he found himself being carried by the leader of his deck and that he was many, many feet above the ground.

"_Ah, you're awake,"_ Leyvaten commented. _"Are you alright?"_

"Other than waking up to find myself flying several feet above the ground, I'm fine," Jake answered. Leyvaten rolled her eyes, but she had to struggle from laughing at his next comment. "Although finding Stardust clearly struggling with the weight of your sword is entertaining."

"_I'm doing perfectly fine carrying this thing!"_ Stardust retorted. The fact that saying that distracted him from focusing his strength enough to almost drop the blade proved otherwise. _"Oh shit!"_

"That's one vote otherwise," Jake grinned. Stardust stuck his tongue out at the teen. "So what are we doing?"

"_Flying, obviously," _Leyvaten answered. She was whacked upside the head. _"Ow!"_

"Brat! You know what I meant!"

"_We're going to check on Akiza,"_ Stardust answered, rolling his eyes at the exchange, even as he strained to keep a hold of the ridiculously large and heavy blade. _"See how she's doing."_

"So basically Yusei is worried about her," Jake said. Stardust smirked at that.

"_More than he cares to let on, I think,"_ the dragon agreed, as they approached the place where Akiza was supposed to be dueling. The moment they landed, Stardust sighed quietly as he was able to finally rest the blade on the ground.

"_Heavy?" _Leyvaten grinned, as she put Jake down.

"_Just take the damn thing back!"_ Stardust said, holding it out.

"That's one vote yes,"Jake chuckled. "Alright, I suppose we should just get started looking for her, right?"

"_Shouldn't we wait for the others to arrive?"_ Leyvaten frowned.

"No, we need to start looking right away. The sooner we can find Akiza, the better. Leyvaten, are you going to stay with Stardust and wait?"

The dragons looked at each other, then Stardust smirked.

"_Go ahead, I'll wait for Yusei and everyone else before I start looking,"_ The white dragon said. Leyvaten nodded.

"_How should we start looking?" _Leyvaten asked her duelist. _"Split up?"_

"That would definitely speed things up," Jake nodded. "Besides, as long as I have your card, I can call for you if I get into trouble."

Leyvaten nodded, before the two of them split up... actually, the dragoness stayed behind a moment to kiss Stardust before she launched into the air and began to search. It was soon after that Yusei and the others arrived, and they also spread out. It was while Yusei had run into another man, claiming to be with sector security and that he would help that the pro duelist got into trouble.

"Stardust!" Yusei called, grabbing the dragon's card.

The dragon snapped to attention and flew as fast as he could. Leyvaten, noticing this as the two of them had been flying around to find their friend, became curious – but decided her mate could handle whatever it was.

"Don't think that just calling out the name of your card can save you!" Exclaimed the mysterious man, as he successfully chucked Yusei into the pit below, covered by the caged floor that Mina was already trapped under.

"_And don't think you can treat my duelist like that, jackass!"_

The roar that was heard caught the man off-guard before he could seal the grate with a fireball created real by his psychic duelist abilities. He decided to beat a hasty retreat instead, while Stardust took the time to save his duelist and Mina.

"Thanks, Stardust," Yusei said as the dragon nodded and helped the two out, flying them outside through the hole in the roof he'd made. "That man seemed to know Akiza. He said she 'didn't need friends like us'... we need to find her faster."

There was a sudden explosion as an entire building blew and was replaced by a round forcefield.

"_I'm guessing that's her,"_ Stardust said, as he flew over in that direction.

"And I bet that man is there now."

Leyvaten was already arriving, her duelist not far behind, as the two of them landed.

"You look like you've been through the wringer," Jake commented to Yusei as the dragon landed and let Mina and his duelist off his back.

"Some jerk randomly appeared and nearly did something to Mina and I," Yusei growled. "He lured us both into a building, claiming that Akiza was there, then he threw us under the caged floor and almost locked us under it. Stardust got him to run."

"Anything special about this guy?" Jake said, frowning at the silenced deck Misty, the Dark Signer Akiza was facing, currently had active. It didn't hurt this time. "I guess Blue-Eyes is still blocking the pain... thanks."

The brilliantly beautiful dragon just gave a short 'you're welcome', before Yusei looked over at the building opposite the one the group was watching from on top of. The duelist frowned heavily, and his deck made Jake glance at him.

"What's up?" Jake asked.

"I'll be right back," Yusei said, before running down the steps and over to the building across the way. Stardust went on alert, keeping an eye on his duelist. "And Stardust, don't interfere. I have a plan."

He didn't like it, but the dragon knew to trust his partner, so he stayed back. He listened through his card in Yusei's deck as the man revealed himself to be Sayer, the one who had caused this explosion of Akiza's powers by putting her under a trance – and under his control. A little click of a button broadcasted this through Akiza's duel disk – and into Misty's hearing range. Stardust grit his teeth and clenched his fists as his duelist was attacked more than once. Jake gently placed a hand on the dragon's arm.

"He grew up here, he knows how to handle himself," Jake told Stardust gently. "Besides, that guy's going to get what he deserves. Look at Misty."

Stardust did as Jake suggested, and smirked at the way, even though Yusei was hanging on barely, Misty was more than ready to kill Sayer for what he'd just admitted through the connected duel disks and their audio transfer abilities. Not hesitating a moment, Misty had the real-life Earthbound Immortal make a snack out of Sayer. He totally deserved it for the crap he'd pulled. It was when the celebrity was about to forfeit to her no-longer-in-a-trance-thanks-to-Yusei that Jake grabbed his head, gritting his teeth and grinding them together. Leyvaten looked at him, alarm more than obvious on her face.

"_Jake! What's wrong?"_ Leyvaten exclaimed, at his side in a heartbeat.

"_No!"_ Blue-Eyes' voice called through the connection. _"Dammit!"_

"That deck..." Jake began to say, as a darkness enveloped Misty and began to take control of her. "Their voices have changed. They were silenced before, but now... they're so _dark_ and _evil_..."

"_It's strong enough to break through my barriers!"_ Blue-Eyes told Leyvaten. _"But instead of spreading throughout the entire deck it's going straight to Jake!"_

"_C'mon, Akiza, win quickly!"_ Leyvaten begged of their friend quietly. She could only offer her duelist someone to lean on – literally – as the pain continued to wash over him in tidal waves.

"What's wrong?" Yusei asked, feeling the panic surge over his connection with Stardust and making him rush over. "I thought that Blue-Eyes was protecting him?"

"_She was,"_ Stardust said. _"Whatever's possessing Misty is skipping the barrier and going right for him."_

Yusei frowned heavily, as Leo, Luna, Trudge, and Mina watched both the duel and what was going on with the newest member of their little group. Jake's clenched jaw continued to tighten to the point where Leyvaten could pretty much hear the teen's teeth grinding themselves to bits. Before meeting and dueling Yusei, none of this had ever happened, but now it was... dammit, she could sense the teen on the verge of blacking out again. It was sheer force of will that was keeping him standing, if only just and if only because he was holding himself up with her help.

_Dammit, I hate seeing him like this,_ Leyvaten thought, swearing quite colorfully inside the privacy of her mind.

She made her decision, and closed her eyes, focusing on her connection to her duelist. Stardust watched his mate carefully, wondering if he needed to jump in and help. If one were to put it into words, it could be described as Leyvaten diving through a tunnel mentally and into her duelist's heart. The citizens of the ravine sensed her passing through the connection, something they hadn't done before. The link had, before, been nothing more than a way to provide conversation and for Jake to be able to call upon them when he was dueling. Nobody had considered actually going through it like it was a tunnel. As Akiza was making her move to put the duel one step closer to the end, the dragoness arrived inside what looked to be her duelist's inner mind, his soul room. There, she would see him struggling to hold what appeared to be a door closed with all his might. Without another thought, she began to help, and those on the outside would notice Jake relaxing slightly as the pain was being held back by two hearts and minds instead of one. Inside his soul room, the duelist looked at Leyvaten.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jake growled at her, surprising her with his attitude. She wasn't sure if it was the pain talking or what. "Get out. I'm not going to let you risk getting caught in this."

"Shut up," Leyvaten snapped. "I told you that we were here to help you, and that's what I'm going to do, whether you like it or not."

Jake opted to remain silent at that, but he sighed with relief, both in his soul room and in the real world, when the pain vanished at last. Akiza had done it – she'd won. She'd stopped the flood of darkness that had appeared out of nowhere in his heart and mind, and Leyvaten had helped to ease the pain of it. With a snap, the golden barriers that glowed just through the cracks of the door appeared again. The dragoness smiled to her duelist's grateful look, before she vanished from his inner world and Jake suddenly found himself looking back at where the duel had taken place.

_What was that place...?_ Jake thought to himself, feeling a lot safer now that the dark aura pouring out of Misty and her deck was gone. Sadly, she was as well, but still. _When the darkness left, I felt so... at home there..._

Perhaps he could ask Blue-Eyes sometime soon. It would be nice to know about what it was he'd seen. He wondered what it was that was so special about that room, what it was that attracted him to it... but he decided to wait for answers. There was still some work to do in regards to the Dark Signers. Like why there was one more sign – above New Domino City, and not the Satelite. That just meant something bad was happening there. Within a short time, thanks to the Crimson Dragon, everyone was transported to the place – something resembling a large temple that the Signers recognized, and when they saw Rex Goodwin coming out of the top, they were confused – except for Jake, whom grabbed his head and caught the attention of Leyvaten.

"_Jake, it's happening again already?"_ Leyvaten asked, at his side in moments. She put down her blade and gently held her duelist close, seeing as he clearly needed the comfort.

"It's... such a conflict..." Jake growled out. His eyes were squeezed shut as he attempted to bear the feelings of both dark and light pouring out of Director Goodwin's deck.

"_A conflict? What do you mean?"_ She asked gently.

"H-His deck... both... light and dark..."

The most alarming thing happened then – Jake collapsed. And he didn't get up. Leyvaten bit her lip slightly. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Sure, she could sense that he was alive through their bond, but both she and the ravine's citizens, even Blue-Eyes, had failed to expect this. It was decided then that Yusei, Crow, and Jack would face Rex, whom had assimilated the powers of both the Signers and the Dark Signers into himself. Stardust stayed by his mate, whom gently held the unconscious form of her precious duelist close, protecting him. She just wished that she understood what was coming from the director's deck that had caused this kind of reaction...

* * *

><p><strong>Credits: <strong>Yeah, the plot's all mine. :D

**A/N:** Alright, I certainly hope that you all enjoyed that, especially the twist as the end where Jake faints! :O Perhaps, if you want to know what happens next, you'll review. After all, just fav'ing this story doesn't feed a writer's soul. Reviews do.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** A brief warning. For the lemon scene in this chapter, Stardust and Leyvaten are referred to by their birth genders (although you smart cookies out there would figure that out, I'm sure). Also, the numbers are merely a scene break. Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em><strong>Connections<strong>_

"So he's still not awake yet?"

"No, and it's been so long since the duel with Goodwin."

"That brings a question to mind," The center of attention began to say, voice weak. "How long _has_ it been since then?"

"_Jake!"_ Leyvaten exclaimed, quick to hug her duelist tightly. Her sword was no where in sight, probably locked up somewhere or something. _"You're alright... I was so worried..."_

"Well, you'll... urk... can't... breathe..." Jake managed to gasp out, and as a result, was allowed enough space to do so. "Seriously, what happened? I remember Goodwin's deck practically fighting itself..."

"_You blacked out, Jake," _Stardust explained to the duelist gently, as Leyvaten was unsure of how to put it. _"You've been unconcsious for a full week."_

"_How do you feel?"_ Leyvaten asked.

"Like I should still be asleep," Jake admitted. "I feel like –" He paused, noticing that Leo and Luna were in the room and revised his statement mid-sentence – "total crap."

"_I could only barely hold off whatever you were feeling,"_ Leyvaten told her duelist. _"I was able to help, but very little."_

"There you go again, throwing yourself... never mind, you never listen anyway," Jake sighed. "Where are we?"

"Back at Martha's place for now," Yusei answered. "A bridge is finally being built between Sattelite and New Domino City. They'll be connected at last."

"That's good news," Jake commented. "What about Stardust and Leyvaten, you guys still stuck here? And where's your obnoxiously large sword?"

"_We figured out how to return to the duel monster world,"_ Leyvaten said proudly. _"Our bodies won't vanish, but our spirits simply move back there. When I went back last, I was able to summon my blade, and left it there."_

Jake gave an 'ah' look as he nodded. The group told him they were glad he was alright, before saying they had to help get things back in order after the chaos of the Dark Signers. Except for Yusei and Stardust. They stayed behind.

"What's up?" Jake asked Yusei. The teen still felt far too exhausted to even sit up, and he was ready to fall asleep again, considering how late it was.

"During the week you were out, I had to comfort your deck," Yusei said, nodding to the cards sitting on the nightstand by the teen. Jake smiled at all of the concerned voices he was hearing. "By the third or fourth day, I didn't need those in my own to pass on their messages."

Jake nodded slowly at first. Several seconds passed. Then it sank in.

"Wait, what?" Jake exclaimed once it did, staring at Yusei with wide eyes. "You mean you can hear my deck now, and not just your own?"

"And just yours," Yusei nodded.

"_We've only started to work on merging the ravines, so that might be a factor,"_ Stardust interjected.

"But that shouldn't be enough for you to hear my _entire_ deck," Jake said, frowning as he thought. He looked Yusei over. "Something else happened during the duel."

The older duelist smirked at how the teen figured it out so easily, before he showed his changed mark. He could practically hear the gears turning in Jake's head.

"The energy used in the change of your sign might have changed your connection to be open to one more deck," Jake began. "There was a connection between your heart and your original sign, but when this new one came, a different connection had to be opened – but because your heart was already accustomed to having something to connect to, it searched for a deck to open up to, and must have somehow chosen mine."

Yusei's eyebrows rose at this idea, nodding at the idea. Nobody else in the group had thought of such a thing, but it certainly made sense... sort of, anyway... aside from that, it was getting even later, and even Yusei could see how tired his friend was. So he bid good night to the younger duelist and headed for bed himself.

"_Hey, Stardust,"_ Leyvaten whispered to her mate slyly. _"Meet me in my chambers in five minutes. Tonight's the night of the festival."_

Stardust looked genuinly interested, Jake already fast asleep. The dragon and his mate had been keeping an eye on the young duelist for the past week, and now that they knew he was going to be alright, they could relax at this... festival, whatever it was about. Five minutes seemed to crawl by to Stardust, especially since Leyvaten had already closed her eyes and returned to her ravine. When he was at last called by her to head to her room, he did so with eager anticipation as to what the festival was about. He found her leaning over the balcony railing of her chambers, looking at the approaching full moon.

"Leyvaten?" He asked, getting her attention. She came over, grinning at his confusion. "What's the festival about, and where is it?"

"It's in the entire ravine, love," Leyvaten said gently. Then she schooled her face. "In a couple of minutes, things will happen, and afterwards... Stardust, after everything happens, you must swear that you will _stay calm_ and let me explain."

"What do you mean, is something –"

"Promise me, Stardust!" Leyvaten insisted, gently taking a hold of his hands. He could tell by her eyes how serious she was. "Swear upon your word as a dragon!"

"A-Alright, I swear upon my word as a dragon that I'll stay calm and let you explain," Stardust said, giving in to his lover's demands. He realized quickly that she wasn't going to say anything else as she watched the moon begin to rise over the ravine, both of them bathing in its light in front of the dragoness' bed. It was when he felt odd that he voiced his question. "Leyvaten, what's..."

Stardust's voice hitched as he looked himself over, feeling the oddest sensation at his groin. He just _had_ to be seeing things. His member had, out of nowhere, become fully erect, even though he felt no arousal – but now it was shrinking, as he felt his testicles sink into that spot between his legs. His cock vanished into his body, and he felt an odd sensation as _something_ was happing inside of him. It wasn't painful, thankfully, but it felt damn weird. It was over as soon as it had started. He looked at Leyvaten in confusion, and his brow furrowed when he noticed a slit for a member's sheath had replaced his love's hole.

"Leyvaten, what..." He paused when he recalled his promise, then sighed. "Okay. You said you'd explain, so..."

Leyvaten gave a smile, before gently pulling her love into a kiss. Stardust couldn't help but smile through it and return it, and remain smiling when they pulled apart.

"You've changed," Leyvaten said gently, slowly bringing a hand up the side of the white dragon's chest, before calmly placing a hand on his breast.

"Ahh!" Stardust moaned instinctively at the sudden pleasure that shot through him. Then this clicked in his head. "Huh? Why'd that...?"

"It's the magic," Leyvaten explained. "Don't ask how or why it's in this ravine, it just is. We've already explained it to Blue-Eyes. Once per month, only on the first night of the full moon, this happens..."

Stardust was confused as to what 'this' was... until he had to support himself on his mate from intense pleasure rocketing through his body as her smooth fingers dipped into his innards.

Wait. What?

"No... no way..." He whispered, looking down. Sure enough, his lover's hand was gently pulling out of what could only be called a cunt. "So... then my..."

"Like I said, it's only for tonight," Leyvaten assured her mate, gently making sure she had eye contact. She knew very well how shocking this was, as it had been for everyone in the ravine the first time it had happened several years ago. "This is what the festival is about, Stardust. Once a month this happens, and we spend the night having some... not-so-clean fun."

Stardust nodded, feeling a bit in a haze at how all of this had happened so suddenly. His own ravine had nothing like this, and it was most certainly... interesting, to say the least. When his love gently kissed him again, his mind made up its decision, and decided that being on the receiving end for a single night wasn't a bad thing – it would be a way for them to become closer, to understand each other better. Perhaps that's why this little event was so popular here, and if the way he'd heard the citizens of the ravine speak was right, it was how all the couples in this place got so close. As a result of this sudden decision, he accepted his lover's kiss, and let her lean them back onto the bed, where she pulled away.

"I see you've made your choice," Leyvaten whispered into her love's ear smoothly. She enjoyed making him blush, mostly because it went well with his features. "Will you let me take care of you?"

"J-Just... be gentle..." Stardust said. He wasn't sure how this was supposed to go down now that their roles were reversed so suddenly.

"I was never going to do anything else," His mate assured him with a knowing smile. "Just relax, love..."

Stardust couldn't help but do anything else as his mate gently licked his now-sensitive nipple. It sent shivers up his spine, causing his back to arch slightly as she continued to play with it through the use of her tongue and lips, kissing all over both breasts. She obviously enjoyed showing him what it was like being on the receiving end for once. He moaned quietly, before he was partially silenced by the deepest, most passionate kiss of the night. Only partially because even as he was kissed, Leyvaten continued to carefully use her hands to mess with her lover's chest, and he was enjoying every waking moment. It was when she dipped her tongue into his newly formed innards that he finally spoke again.

"Ahh!" Stardust moaned loudly. It was such a new, incredible feeling, having someone's tongue inside you and play with those sensitive inner walls. "Mmm... L-Leyvaten..."

She just kept eating out her mate's cunt, knowing full well how good it felt. Despite herself, a hand had moved down to her growing cock, and begun rubbing it, causing some happy moans to escape her and into said mate's pussy. It took very little time for them both to moan quite loudly as, for Stardust's first time, he could feel his insides clench on nothingness and spill their juices all over his mate's face as Leyvaten's member gave few shots to the floor, before she carefully cleaned her face and brought her lips to Stardust's own.

"P-Please tell me you're ready..." Leyvaten whispered into his ear. Her only-for-tonight member was throbbing and desperate to please her mate's only-for-tonight cunt.

"T-Take me..." Stardust breathed back. He never thought he'd actually say those words.

The former male's moans grew louder with every passing centimeter of cock that was pushed into him – until he grit his teeth when something resembling a fleshy wall was prodded. Leyvaten halted when she found it, and seemed to be waiting for something – and after a few moments, Stardust understood what, before nodding nervously to her. She clamped his mouth shut with a kiss before breaking his hymen for the first time in his life. The pain that washed over his nerves caused his eyes to water, but it was slowly but surely overshadowed by the pleasure Leyvaten was giving him by playing with a breast, his clit, and making their tongues dance. Then he finally decided he was ready when the pleasure at last overshadowed the pain, and he did so by gently pushing Leyvaten further in – and they pulled apart as he did so.

"Mmmaahhh..." Stardust moaned quite loudly, as he found that the feeling of being filled by a cock was very intense and very, very good.

"Like it?" Leyvaten panted after a moment, trying to adjust to this feeling as well. She had experienced the changes before, yes, but she only had Mystletainn to have fun with during that time. Never had she actually been able to fill someone with her respectable length.

Stardust waited several anxious moments for his lover to stop torturing him with inactivity and take initiative, but when she started, dear Ra he didn't want it to end. It just felt _so _incredibly _good_...

"Nnn... S-Stardust..." Leyvaten moaned as she pounded her mate for all she was worth. "Y-You're so... so tight...!"

It took a few moments, but she finally resorted to pushing her lover's legs further apart for better access, helping to increase the pleasure and make it easier for her to get further into his hole with her member. With this being their first time of having their roles swapped, the knot on Leyvaten's thick and hungry-for-cunt cock soon found itself lodged in Stardust's hole.

"Ah!" Stardust exclaimed, his innards quickly caving in for the second time in his life, as the muscled walls forced his mate to moan as she poured her juices into his womb. How odd it was to think like that when, just two days ago, he had been the one doing this to her. He quickly found himself on the receiving end of a kissing assault, before they pulled apart. "Mmm... that was incredible..."

"Yeah..." Leyvaten agreed. "Would... would you..."

"More than anything," Stardust answered, knowing full well what his love's question would be.

_1234567890987654321_

It wasn't until morning that Jake woke up, and late in the morning at that. Late enough to be bordering on noon. During those hours of sleep, he had found himself in that place again. The spot where he felt safe, at home, like nobody else could get in there and hurt him – and it was only in his mind... only in his heart. In there, he found what looked to be an opening in the wall. It appeared to be what let him talk to other decks, and it was outlined in a white light.

_So if that opening lets me communicate with decks..._ Jake thought as he got out of bed and stretched his stiff muscles. _Then that must be some sort of internal room that represents my soul or something... so I guess it could be called a soul room._

"Hello? Jake?" Crow called, snapping the teen out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" Jake said, confused as a hand was being waved in front of his face.

"You were miles away, that's all," Crow smirked, making Jake roll his eyes. "You okay?"

"Just thinking, but don't worry, it doesn't hurt to do that... although I don't know if you can say the same."

It took only a second for the Blackwing-deck user to understand, and very quickly chased after the fleeing and grinning Jake. Yusei and Jack were confused when the teen seemed to be using the former king as a meat shield between himself and a mockingly aggravated Crow. The current King of Duelists rolled his eyes at the antics between the two, before speaking up.

"Looks like you're feeling a lot better, Jake," He commented.

"Yeah," Jake nodded, finally stepping out from behind protection that went by the name of Jack. He easily dodged Crow's noogie-giving lunge, leaving said person down on the floor. "I feel a lot better, aside from stiff muscles that haven't moved in a week."

"Of course they'd be stiff," Jack said. Jake chose to ignore him, making the former king grit his teeth at the lack of respect.

"Where are Stardust and Leyvaten?" Yusei asked before his two friends could get into a fight. When he saw Jake's smirk, the older duelist just returned it, knowing in an instant what the answer was.

"They're busy," Jake answered. "As are the rest of my deck. They usually have some sort of festival celebrating the full moon. Don't ask why, because I don't know. I bet they're sleeping off some hangovers or something."

"_We are not,"_ Leyvaten said as she walked into the room at that moment, Stardust at her side.

Their genders had returned to normal with the rising sun, and thankfully, their real-life bodies didn't carry the smell of cum they'd been coated with from their fun. Which had, after a couple of private sessions, according to the festival, opened up to be a full-blast orgy in the middle of the entire freaking ravine. Not that they were complaining, it was a lot of fun and a damn good way to blow off some steam.

"_You just damn well better not say out loud what was happening,"_ Stardust warned both duelists.

"Why would we do _that_ when we don't want to risk your overwhelming wrath?" Jake asked. The sarcasm was more than obvious.

"_Be glad I don't have my blade on me, brat,"_ Leyvaten told her duelist as she rolled her eyes.

"Over sized lizard," Jake replied in an instant.

"_Dammit, you've gotten too good at that."_

"Stop helping me practice, then."

Yusei just sighed and resigned to the fact that his friends were insane. Leyvaten and Jake apparently figured it out fairly easily.

"_You're just as insane, you know,"_ Leyvaten accused the pro duelist and her mate.

They looked at each other before back at the other two and simultaneously denying the accusation. Jake and Leyvaten laughed. Jack, Crow, and almost everyone else in the room were left confused. They soon gave up on trying to interpret whatever was being said.

"Jake, you said you could teach us how to hear our decks, right?" Crow asked the teen, who nodded with a smile.

"It's easy, but you'll need to sit down and put your deck out in front of you," Jake instructed. "And you'll need the utmost patience. Luna doesn't really need to do it, she can already talk to her deck."

Luna blushed a bit at the attention, but understood where the newest member of the gang was coming from in his reasoning. It certainly made sense. The rest of them took a seat at Martha's table and put their cards in front of them.

"Take your hands off your decks, and don't touch them until you can hear the top card," Jake told them all. He could already hear the spirits arranging the decks so that the leader was there. "This will take time, so you will need to _be patient_. Close your eyes."

The teen waited until they had all done so. It suddenly sank into his head that he was teaching all of the Signers, Yusei not included, how to do this. Leo was an exception as well, considering he wasn't a Signer, but the kid was learning as well.

"Start meditating," Jake said gently. "It takes lots of time and lots of meditation. Just... meditate and slowly open your heart to the spirits in your cards. You're already connected to them, that's how you can call upon them during a duel when you need them the most. It just takes the will to open up that link enough for you to communicate. Don't draw the top card of your deck until you can hear it."

Jake looked to Yusei, Stardust and Leyvaten. He nodded to the door, and they headed outside where they could talk without disturbing the rest of the group. Leo had trouble at first with the sitting still thing, but he eventually forced himself with his will to do it. By the time Jake came back inside from playing the Crow's kid friends, he grinned at what he found.

"_How're they doing?"_ Stardust asked when he came in after Jake. Leyvaten decided to take a nap outside, having gotten little rest during the festival.

"Almost... there," Jake said, grinning at Crow, who snapped his eyes open and carefully drew the top card of his deck. Jake went over to the spiky-haired duelist and spoke quietly to not disturb the others. "Take your deck out with you, and don't stop talking with them. You need to keep talking to make the link permanent."

Crow nodded, picked up his cards, and when he was finally outside, Jake had to step out to laugh at what he'd heard. After a minute, the teen came back in and quickly told the same to, surprisingly, Leo. The kid was blushing at what his deck was saying – basically talking about calming the kid down – before also heading out. As it turns out, Jack was the last to achieve it. From there, things were definitely going to be interesting. Being able to communicate with one's deck just made things that way, after all...

* * *

><p><strong>Credits:<strong> Not sure where the transgender idea came from. The rest belongs to me, though.

**A/N:** Yeah, I've been planning that festival thing for days now, I just wasn't sure how to write it up. I hope you enjoyed the random role swap and the rest of this mostly-filler chapter! :D Remember, I don't want you to favorite this story, I want you to _review_!


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **I apologize for taking this much time to post this, but here it is now, and I hope you enjoy it as much as you did the other chapters. And no, there is no lemon in this - but there are a few time-skips. Why are they there? Because I wanted them there. I don't feel like having several chapters going over what a single chapter can contain. Either way, I hope you all like it.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Connections<strong>_

"Hey, have you given any thought to the idea of getting a turbo dueling license?"

"Not really. Why, you think I could do it?"

"I think you have the skills, yeah."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, I think you should go for it."

There was a pause as a few more clinks and tinks resounded in the garage.

"Then I have a question."

"Yeah?"

"Just where do I go to get a license?"

The other person chuckled, as he continued to work on the duel runner that was before him. His friend had a mind like a steel trap, he'd caught on how to mess with a runner very fast.

"_So we're going to learn turbo dueling soon?"_

"_Oh, I can't wait to see you in action on a runner!"_

"Stardust, you're sounding like a kid that just won a bunch a candy."

Stardust rolled his eyes at his friend, _"I don't care, I still can't wait for that."_

"Then I guess Leyvaten and I are going for it, huh?"

"_Apparently we are," _Leyvaten agreed amusedly, giving an equally amused look to her mate. _"We'll have to set up a runner for us, huh, Jake?"_

"Shouldn't be too hard, right, Yusei?" Jake prodded his friend with a grin, who gave an exasperated sigh.

"Jake, do you have _any_ idea how much work it takes to _make_ a runner?" Yusei exclaimed.

"Considering how much you're whining about it?" Jake continued to tease. "Yes."

Yusei sighed, "Brat."

"Takes one to know one."

The older duelist gave his friend a look that made Jake and Leyvaten laugh, even as the younger one pulled away and let Yusei take over completely.

"So, do you actually know where I can get a license?" Jake asked

"There should be a spot near the academy."

"Then I guess I'll go sign up now, it's better than sitting here and watch you play with your toys."

"Oh, like you're any better!"

Jake laughed as he walked out of the garage, heading out towards the place where he could get licensed as a turbo duelist, Leyvaten opting to stay where she was curled up comfortably against her mate. Yusei shook his head at his friend.

"That guy's nuts, but considering the company he puts up with, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," He commented.

"_Hey!"_ Leyvaten exclaimed, getting a chuckle out of the two males in the room. _"You should be glad I'm not testing to see how well my blade works in terms of fixing a duel runner, brat."_

Yusei paused as he thought, looking at Leyvaten. The dragon-type blinked, before raising her eyeridge.

"_I wasn't serious, you know..." _She commented with a deadpan-tone.

"No, not that," Yusei said, dropping his current project and immediantly searching for some spare parts that were lying around. Stardust and Leyvaten watched as pile of mismatched items grew rapidly in the middle of the garage. "Perfect!"

"_Uhh... what's perfect?"_ Stardust asked. Yusei grinned.

_1234567890987654321_

_Well, this is the duel academy,_ Jake thought as he arrived at the large school building. _So where's the licensing thing...?_

"Jake? What're you doing here?"

Jake blinked, before smiling, "Hey Akiza. I'm looking for where I can get a turbo duelling license."

"You're going to become a turbo duelist?" Akiza asked, intrigued. Jake nodded. "I was actually thinking of doing the same."

"So why don't we just take the same class? That would save a lot of time and money and all that jazz."

Akiza chuckled, "The building over there is the one that has the class. I was going to take it in a month or so, during the next break."

"Because of class?"

"_Speaking of which, you're going to be late!"_ A voice called up to Akiza from her deck, making her start and look at her watch.

"Ack!" Akiza exclaimed. "Thanks, Black Rose! Later, Jake!"

Jake stepped out of his friend's way with a laugh, as she rushed off to her next class. She glared at him over her shoulder, making him laugh a little harder. He started to head over to the building where they could get their license, planning to sign up a reservation in the class that was during the next break of classes.

_1234567890987654321_

"Got it all set up!" Jake exclaimed with a grin as he walked into the garage. "Akiza's going to be taking the class as well, and I set up a reservation for me for the next break between classes."

"A class for what?" Crow asked, finally home from his job.

"Turbo dueling!"

"Oh, so that's why –"

"Hey! Don't tell him yet!"

"Don't tell me what yet?" Jake asked, looking at Yusei with confusion.

"I can't just tell you, that would ruin the surprise!"

Jake shrugged at this. At least he got the reservations done, it would make everything easier later on when the class actually started. He spotted Stardust and Leyvaten where they were when he'd left – curled up together in a corner, but this time they were actually asleep. With a soft smile, and making sure he was silent, the young duelist pulled out a camera and took a picture.

"What do you think?" He asked Yusei quietly, showing the result. The pro nodded his approval as he returned to working on the same runner he and Jake had been working on earlier.

"Pretty good. Are you going to print it or something?"

"Hm... printing and framing it would be nice."

Yusei nodded, making sure he got a copy of the image to keep for himself, to which Jake agreed. He then said he was going to go get some turbo dueling cards with money he'd earned at various odd jobs. Crow and Jack had left to do their various things, leaving Yusei behind at the garage. He thought of everything that had happened in the past few months. Like recently... that duel bot... that Meklord Emperor had really scared him, especially when it snagged Stardust away like that. Leyvaten had gotten very worried almost immediantly, and the moment her mate was back and out of a duel, smothered him in a hug – it was kind of the reason she had yet to leave his side, because she knew that the experience still haunted both Stardust and Yusei. After a few minutes of silence, the door opened, and a man that looked to be in his thirties or fourties walked in after knocking.

"Can I help you?" Yusei asked the man, pausing in his working on the runner.

"Yes, I was wondering if Yusei Fudo was here," The man asked.

"You've got him."

"I could use some help with a machine... it's got a few screws loose, it's very opinionated, and it won't stop talking at faculty meetings."

"It talks? What kind of machine is it?"

"It's something called the Rudolph Heitmann..."

Yusei gave a tilt of his head in confusion. Stardust had just slipped away from his mate, convincing her that he would be fine so she should just keep sleeping instead.

_1234567890987654321_

Jake was just going back towards the garage, having spent his personally-set allowance on the cards he would use to build a deck. It was on his way back that he noticed Stardust hanging around Academy and decided to investigate.

"Decided to take a cat-nap on the roof of the school, Stardust?" Jake called up to the duel monster. Said creature rolled his eyes before hovering down to the ground, catching a lot of the kids off-guard.

"_No, Yusei's in there getting ready for a duel,"_ Stardust countered. _"Something about the vice-chancellor wanting to expel Leo and Luna's entire class because they don't have monsters bigger than a four star."_

"That has to be the lamest reason for expulsion I've ever heard... so Yusei's going to duel this guy, on the bet that if he wins, the class stays? I'm not sure if I want to ignore it, or go in and take notes."

"_Notes? On what?"_

"On any mistake Yusei makes so I can torture him about it later, of course!"

Stardust sighed with exasperation at this, but he never got the chance to stop the younger duelist, as Jake was already heading inside.

"_Jake!" _Stardust called. _"Oh come on, I can't go in there!"_

"Then you'll just have to go back to your cat-nap!" Jake called back through the doors. Stardust glowered through the glass, before noticing the crowd he was attracting.

"_Uhhh... Jake, wait, I need some help here!" _Stardust tried calling for his friend, but noticed the kid was already out of hearing range. _"Jake? Jake! Don't leave me with these kids!"_

"Is it a robot?" A kid was wondering.

Stardust bit back a groan, this was just great. Apparently he needed to figure out a way to get into buildings. Was it possible to change size at will? It would certainly make it easier to go around with his duelist. At least he could hear through his card what was happening.

"Hey, Akiza, long time no see, right?" Jake greeted as he joined his friends in the stands behind Yusei.

"Jake? What're you doing here?" Akiza asked, Leo and Luna's attention also captured.

"Well, there was a great big Stardust on the roof, so I came over to see what was happening. How's the duel going?"

"Yusei just got pounded for three thousand points of damage!"

"Oh, he did?" Jake asked, making a mental note of it. Something to tease him about later.

"Wait, Stardust Dragon is here?" One of Leo's friends asked, confused. "But he was already sent to the graveyard to summon a bunch of other tuner monsters!"

Jake looked down at the arena, the kid was right. Four tuners stood there on the field, waiting to strike at Yusei's instruction.

"Those three aren't a part of his deck, so I guess you kids lent them to him?"

The kids nodded, returning their attention to the duel. Jake watched, and frowned at the attitude of the chancellor. This guy really didn't know his stuff, did he? Oh well, it was over almost as quickly as it had started, and Jake went down there with Akiza and the rest of the kids.

"Good work, Yusei," Jake congratulated.

"What're you doing here? Already got the cards you wanted?"

"Yeah... grabbed a few booster packs, and got a card that was really good. I'm certain I'll be using it."

"But what got you here?"

"He mentioned something of Stardust being on the roof and getting his attention," Leo said. "Is Stardust really here?"

Yusei realized that if Jake and Stardust had talked, then the duel monster had probably been swarmed by some other kids that were intrigued by his physical existence. This thought made him wonder exactly how well that went over, so he decided to race outside and see. The others followed, those who hadn't met Stardust in person froze in shock and awe. If he were to be honest, Jake was surprised the dragon was getting along with the kids as well as he was. Upon spotting the duelists, said dragon stopped and went over to the two of them.

"_You know Jake, I should smack you for leaving me like that," _Stardust said, giving him a look. Jake just grinned.

"Aw, but why would you be mad at me?" Jake asked teasingly, his grin pretty much permanent. "You seem to get along well with the kids!"

"_That doesn't mean you should've just left me here like you did!"_

"I don't know," Yusei said, smirking. "It seems to be fine here. I don't see any scorch marks, so clearly it wasn't so bad."

"_Why would you assume that there'd be scorch marks? I'm not that bad, Yusei!"_

"Stardust Dragon is _real_?" A friend of Leo's said at that moment, saying the thoughts of the group of kids there. Stardust bit back a groan, he didn't want to play with anymore children today.

"_Are we done here? Can we _please_ head back to the garage?"_

Yusei chuckled as he nodded, "C'mon, guys, let him go. We have to head home."

There was a chorus of sad moans, but the children backed up and let the dragon launch high into the skies, glad to be relieved of that mess. It took only a few minutes for them to get home, Jake hitching a ride on Yusei's runner.

"_So you were stuck playing with kids all afternoon?" _The words that they walked in on, spotting Leyvaten talking to Stardust, very clearly amused. _"Did you at least have _some_ fun?"_

"_Well... a little..."_ Stardust admitted after a moment. _"But still, Jake just up and left me like that... your duelist is a brat, you know that?"_

"Thanks, but she's already mentioned it a few times," Jake cut in with a chuckle, getting their attention, as he and Yusei walked into the garage.

"Anyway, so what cards did you get at the shop, Jake?" Yusei cut in.

"Some pretty good ones."

"...You aren't going to say, are you?"

"Not a chance, that would ruin the surprise!"

Yusei rolled his eyes.

"_I think I have a new goal to go for," _Stardust interjected, catching their attention. _"I wasn't able to go in with you because I'm too large for the entrances."_

"_What, you want to try to shrink or something?"_ Leyvaten asked. She didn't expect her mate to actually nod in agreement, and blinked at the response. _"Huh... I guess it's possible. Once you get it down, let me know."_

"That would be interesting, going around with a plushie-sized duel monster," Jake commented. "Although it would certainly ruin the intimidation factor you like so much."

Yusei laughed, "It really would, wouldn't it? Stardust, the size of a plushie? Heh, adorable!"

_"Well, _I_ think an adorable Stardust is perfectly fine,"_ Leyvaten said.

"_And I think a sweet plushie Leyvaten isn't a bad thing either,"_ Stardust agreed.

Yusei and Jake looked at each other, before the latter gave a shrug.

"Let's leave the lovebirds to do their thing," He whispered to his friend, and they returned to working on the same runner as before.

_1234567890987654321_

"Hey, look, our first license class," Jake greeted Akiza.

"And look, it's done and it wasn't hard at all," She continued with a smile.

"Yeah, it really wasn't, huh?"

Jake and Akiza had just gone through their first class for the turbo dueling license, and it was the start of a series of practices and such. After a few classes, Jake was just returning from the card store, still working on his speed duel deck. When he arrived at the garage and started down the ramp, he paused at what he saw.

"Well, look who's here," Crow said with a smirk.

"No way... is that...?" Jake began to say, blinking with surprise.

"_Yeah,"_ Leyvaten nodded, smiling. _"What do you say?"_

Jake was in awe. It looked _amazing_. It was mostly colored a deep orange, bordering on red. It was designed so that the dueling interface would lean towards the seat, so that Jake wouldn't be leaning forward at all times when riding it – which kind of fit his relaxed personality. The seat had the same kind of curve-over-the-head style of Yusei's back, but there was a stripe that was a gentle green stripe going from the tip of the backseat curve, widening as it went, soon covering the entire back of the curve. The arms had the handles vertical, and they were attatched at the back curve and swung upwards to allow Jake to get on the runner.

The dueling interface was similar to that of Crow's; at resting postion, it was curled up and around the center, which held the graveyard and even a secure slot for when Jake did his remove-cards-from-play method of summoning Leyvaten. When the runner activated Speed World 2, the interface would surface and line up into a single line, also like Crow's. The arm rests – with a green stripe on down their center – held finger guards over the hand holds, with a couple of buttons on each. The screen was similar to that of any generic runner, in terms of size and function; but it currently showed its style. It was a gentle green, like the stripe on the curve. The card screen – which showed an opponent's field and Jake's as well – at the front portion was colored a soft red, and the back portion was yellow.

The rest of the image had a background of beige, mixing well with the other colors. The speed counters were marked by, in true Jake-style, little coins that filled up a bar near the top. The life point counter was had a little box of its own, and whenever the numbers changed, as it was testing right then, it showed the original number being sliced in half and replaced by the new total. The helmet was simple, colored that redish-orange color, with a green diamond right at the top. The screen was just as advanced as any other duel helmet screen, and was tinted black.

"Wow... I... I don't know what to say..." Jake managed.

"It's set up to be sort of a training runner, like Akiza's," Crow explained calmly.

"You can use it to train on for the class," Yusei continued.

"And be different from those other chumps with their lame runners!" Jack cut in.

"_So? What do you think?"_ Leyvaten asked.

"Does it have your color scheme on purpose?" Jake wondered.

"We thought it would be a good idea to do it that way."

"I... thank you so much, guys..."

They nodded, their smiles infectious.

"_The exam is a duel against a security officer,"_ Leyvaten said. _"Can't wait to ride and win."_

Jake smiled as the two of them shared a high-five, "I can't wait for that, either."

_1234567890987654321_

"Well done, Akiza!" Jake exclaimed, grinning as they shared a high-five, Akiza having just passed the final exam – even with the other three's pathetic attempt to stop her by knocking those poles into the road.

"Yeah!" She agreed happily.

The two of them had, at last, made it to the final exam to get their license – and Akiza had just suceeded in defeating Officer Trudge. Now for Jake to do the same. Even better, Stardust and Leyvaten had actually succeeded in learning how to change the size of their physical forms to being much smaller – and if Jake was honest, Leyvaten's small form was absolutely adorable. Yusei could kind of agree with that for Stardust's, actually. Right now, though, they were in their normal forms and watching from where they were near the stands.

"Well, Jake? Get a move on!" Trudge called. "This handsome officer has been waiting to –"

"Handsome officer?" Jake interrupted, making a show of looking around. "Odd, I don't see any."

Jake's friends stifled their laughter, while the officer rolled his eyes.

"Just get your butt on your runner and get ready to duel!"

Jake smirked, "You're on, Trudge!"

Jake pulled on his helmet, and just as he'd practiced for the past couple of weeks, he rode right up next to the officer.

"Nice ride there, kid," The man complimented before giving a smirk. "Hand-made by your friends? Can't wait to scrap it!"

"I don't know if you're strong enough for that, old man!" Jake taunted in return.

"If Trudge thinks he can trash talk Jake and unnerve him, he's got another think coming!" Crow grinned.

And then they were off at the instructor's order.

"Think you can take the first turn, Kali?" Trudge taunted from behind the teen.

"What, you want to take it?" Jake asked, before backing off. "Fine, then, go ahead."

Trudge blinked, even as he was given the right to take the first turn. Then he smirked again and drew, just as Jake did.

_Oh, so you're already in my hand? Can't wait to take a shot at this, I bet,_ Jake send down his connection to his deck.

"I'm going to summon Stygian Street Patrol to the field!" Trudge called, cutting through his opponent's musings. "Then I'll play a face-down and call it a turn."

_Stygian Street Patrol (Fiend/Effect): 1600 ATK/1200 DEF, 4 Stars_

"Then it's my draw," Jake said, calmly pulling the top card off of his newly modified deck – and smiled at what he received. "First I'll summon Dragunity Tribus to the field in defense mode, and as a result, I send Dragunity Aklys from my deck to my graveyard."

_Dragunity Tribus (Winged Beast/Effect): 500 ATK/300 DEF, 1 Star_

"Then I'll end my turn with three face-downs. Your move, Trudge."

"Then I draw – and Stygian Street Patrol will attack, and when it destroys your monster, you take 100 points of damage multiplied by the monster's level!"

Jake's eyes narrowed as Tribus was sent to the graveyard, and as he lost 100 life points.

"Then I end my turn! You can do better than that, Jake! What's wrong, you scared?"

_SPC (Both): 2_

_Jake: 3900 LP_

_Trudge: 4000 LP_

"Of an old man like you? Not a chance!" Jake grinned, as he drew. "Then I'll activate my face-down – Legacy of Yata-Garasu! It allows me to draw one card!"

After a few moments, Jake placed two trap cards – and summoned one monster.

"I summon Dragunity Legionnaire! When he's successfully summoned, I choose one monster in my graveyard, and equip them to him, and I choose Dragunity Aklys!"

_Dragunity Legionnare (Winged Beast/Effect): 1200 ATK/ 800 DEF, 3 Stars_

_Dragunity Aklys (Dragon/Tuner): 1000 ATK/800 DEF, 2 Stars_

"Then, through Legionnaire's ability, I sacrifice Aklys in order to destroy your Stygian Street Patrol!"

"What!" Trudge exclaimed, watching as his monster was obliterated.

"But now Aklys' ability triggers – because he was sent to the graveyard while equipped to a monster, I can destroy your face-down!"

Trudge grit his teeth as his Countdown – which would deal 500 points of damage for each face-down card he sacrificed – was destroyed and sent to the graveyard.

"Then Legionnaire will attack you directly for 1200!"

The officer cried out as he was hit with the beast's powerful strikes, bringing him down a notch.

"Your move, officer," Jake said, as he passed Trudge on the lane.

"Wow, good shot!" Leo cheered.

"That was an excellent combo," Yusei agreed. "It got rid of both of Trudge's card and made him less of a threat."

"My draw!" Trudge called, grabbing the top card of his deck.

_Both Players: 3 SPC_

_Jake: 3900 LP_

_Trudge: 2800 LP_

"Not so fast!" Jake's smirk widened. "Since it's your Standby Phase, I can now activate this trap card – Class Change!"

"Class Change?" Trudge asked, confused.

"For the next three turns, all ground spells are considered speed spells, and all speed spells are considered ground spells! So if you have a spell to cast, you can forget it!"

Trudge grit his teeth, "Fine, I'll summon another Stygian Street Patrol instead, and attack your Legionnaire!"

"I activate the trap card, Windstorm of Etequa! It forces all of your monsters to change battle position!"

Trudge frowned and ended his turn there.

_Both Players: 4 SPC_

_Jake: 3900 LP_

_Trudge: 2800 LP_

_Class Change: 3 Turns Left_

"My draw," Jake said, smiling at what he received. "I activate Monster Reincarnation! By discarding a card, I can add a monster back to my hand, and I think I'll summon him! Welcome back to the playing field, Aklys!"

Trudge's eyes narrowed at the monster that was back, and watched as Jake spun around and started to drift backwards. It had taken a lot of practice to get that down. The officer clearly saw the teen's confident look, and understood easily that this wasn't going to end well for him.

"Now, Aklys' ability triggers! Because he was summoned, I can special summon one Dragunity monster in my hand and equip them with Aklys – and I special summon Dragunity Arma Leyvaten!"

Stardust smirked as his mate appeared on the field, having focused her spirit into her card to ride along side her duelist for just this moment – for their very first turbo duel. She roared her challenge to Trudge, whom paled slightly. This wasn't going to end well, no way.

_Dragunity Arma Leyvaten (Dragon/Effect): 2600 ATK/1200 DEF, 8 Stars_

"Now, because of Leyvaten's ability, I can special summon Dragunity Brandistock from the graveyard and equip her with him," Jake continued.

_Dragunity Brandistock (Dragon/Tuner): 600 ATK/400 DEF, 1 Star_

"But before we attack, I activate another trap card – Final Attack Orders! Now until this card is destroyed, all monsters must be in attack mode!"

"Oh, no!" Trudge exclaimed, as his monster was changed into a dangerous position.

"Oh yeah! Leyvaten, show that patrol the way back to the police academy!"

The dragon smirked, flew forward at high speed, raised her blade and swung. Stygian Street Patrol was no more, and Trudge grunted at the damage he took as a result.

_Both Players: 4 SPC_

_Jake: 3900 LP_

_Trudge: 1800 LP_

_Class Change: 3 Turns Left_

"Now because of Brandistock's ability, Leyvaten can attack twice per turn!"

"Say what!" Trudge cried out, just before Jake's powerful monster took out his remaining life points.

In moments, his duel runner spewed smoke out of its hub, causing him to screech to a halt as he lost the duel. He gave Jake a thumbs-up, whom returned it and finished the lap. The next thing he knew, he was getting and giving high-fives and fist-bumps from his friends.

"Great duel, man!" Crow congratulated.

"That was _awesome_!" Leo agreed with enthusiasm, grinning widely. Jake laughed at this.

"Well, I try," He grinned, as he stepped off the runner. "And now I'm qualified as a turbo duelist. That's another trouble-maker ready to ride the streets, eh, Akiza?"

"I'm not that bad!" She objected, glowering at her friend, even as the group of them got onto their rides – Leo and Luna resorting to hitching a ride on other runners.

"Was that the trap card you were keeping a secret? The Class Change one?" Jack asked. "That's a really powerful card."

"Yeah, I opened it in one of the packs I found," Jake nodded. "It's why I kept some ground spells in the deck, because I knew that I would be able to use them. I can even use this deck in ground duels because of it."

"That really opens up a whole lot of possibilities," Crow commented.

There was a nod of agreement, as they all headed back to their homes. The world now had a couple of other turbo duelists to look out for now...

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hee hee, it's fun messing with Stardust's head the way I do :D. Yup, Jake's become an even better duelist since the fight with the Dark Signers. The "Class Change" card is one that I came up with.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **I'm on a roll again! Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em><strong>Connections<strong>_

"So what's the verdict?"

"Can't duel for a month! This suuuuucks..."

"A _month_? But the prelims are in two _days_!"

"You think I don't know that? I hate having this thing on, but I can't move my arm, it hurts too much!"

"But if you go down to having only two people on your team, then you'll only be allowed to have a grand total of 8000 life points, and that's a pretty big disadvantage."

"Can we get a substitute?"

"Yeah, but who?"

There was a momentary pause, and Akiza was about to say something as the door opened.

"Hey, guys, what's up?"

Everyone in the garage turned to look, and spotted someone dressed in a plain white t-shirt and green cargos walking in with a grin. He blinked at the looks he was getting.

"Uh... what?"

"_You, Jake, have got some good timing,"_ Stardust chuckled. He smiled as Leyvaten flew down and immediantly settled into his lap.

"I do?" Jake appeared extremely confused, glancing at the little plushie-sized Stardust, Leyvaten at the same size, that was chilling out on Yusei's runner with a look of amusement. Then he saw the sling that Crow's arm was in. "Crow, were you out getting into trouble again?"

"No!" Crow defended vehemently, even as some of the group chuckled.

"_Something attacked us!"_

"Something attacked you?" Jake asked, frowning as he came over. "Did you at least get a glimpse of it?"

"_It looked like some kind of hook,"_ Black-Winged Dragon said, sounding like he was _very_ pissed off. Considering what had happened to his duelist, it was understandable.

"A hook?" Crow asked, pulling Black-Winged out. "What do you... wait... my runner! Let's check the chip!"

The group blinked, then nodded. Once the data was loaded, the group of them had a variety of looks. Most of which were confused frowns.

"Why would the rear wheel suddenly stop spinning like that?" Bruno wondered, voicing everyone's confusion.

"_I'm telling you, it was that damn hook!"_ Black-Winged exclaimed.

"Black-Winged, only Crow and I can hear you," Jake directed to the synchro card sitting by the monitor.

"He's convinced it was a hook he sensed," Crow told the rest of them.

"Maybe he's right?" Akiza put forth. "After all, if a wheel is hooked onto, then it stops moving, right?"

"But where in the world did the hook come from?" Yusei asked, looking towards Black Feather's card.

"_Err..."_ The feathered dragon paused, trying to think. _"Sorry, I didn't see where it came from..."_

"That's okay, it just means you need glasses as badly as Crow does," Jake said with a grin.

"Hey!" Crow exclaimed at the exact same time as Black-Winged, turning to the teen, making the group chuckle and laugh.

"_Leyvaten, can't you keep him under control?" _Black-Winged asked.

"_I tried once," _Leyvaten shrugged with a grin. _"It didn't work."_

"She learned that the hard way," Jake said, grinning still. "So anyway, were you going to figure out who could play interference while you're recovering?"

"I was planning on volunteering," Akiza said.

"But they should allow for more than just one back-up duelist, so I was thinking of asking you to register," Crow admitted.

"Me?" Jake asked. "Really?"

"Jake, ever since the very moment you got your license, you and Leyvaten have been working together to get as many combos down as you can almost non-stop. You two have gotten really good."

Jake blushed from the praise and rubbed his head, "I'm not that good..."

"_I'd disagree,"_ Stardust said, looking at Leyvaten as they stood and stretched their wings, having changed back to their original sizes. The garage was thankfully big enough for that. _"I'd say you two are ready for that."_

"You're biased, your opinion doesn't count," Jake said. "But are you sure?"

"Too late, I already signed you up as well as Akiza," Bruno said from the computer. Jake's attention snapped to the screen, and he sighed.

"Well, then I guess that's been decided," Akiza grinned to Jake, whom shrugged.

"Apparently."

"_Then should we go out and get some more practice?"_ Leyvaten suggested.

"_Well, the prelims are in two days, so yeah,"_ Black Rose agreed. _"I say we get some more practice time in."_

"Sounds like a plan," Jake said, grinning to Akiza, who smiled back.

"Since I don't have much else to do, I'll go with and help you guys get things down," Crow offered.

"Thanks, Crow," Akiza said, as the three of them headed towards the docks of New Domino City, where they could train on their own and away from prying eyes.

_1234567890987654321_

"So what move are you going to start the duel with, Yusei?" Leo asked as the twins came over.

"I'm not," Yusei said with a smile. "Because Jack's going first."

"Huh? Why?"

"Back at the practice track, Andre was using a power deck," Bruno explained. "So it would only make sense to use a power deck against them."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Luna agreed with a nod, as Jack got onto the Wheel of Fortune.

That was when Jean came over, and apologized Crow for the hurt arm. The redhead thanked him for the kind words – but then Jean mentioned something of the script going according to plan. It kind of made Jake give a confused frown, just like Crow.

"What did he mean by that?" The Blackwing user wondered.

Jake shrugged, "Not a clue."

It was as the duel started that Team 5D's got their first shock – Andre was using an Overboost system! It shot him right around the corner, allowing him the right of the first turn; sure, it cut down maximum speed later on, but it would apparently be worth it.

"_That's not the move a power deck would use,"_ Stardust commented.

"You're right, it's not," Yusei agreed, frowning. "That's something a deck designed against power would use."

"Why's that?" Leo asked, confused.

"If you're using a power deck," Bruno continued, knowing what his friend was getting at. "Then the goal isn't really to get the first turn like that."

"It's less of a first turn that matters, because if it was really a power deck, Andre could still hit hard and fast on the second turn," Yusei confirmed.

"So that must mean that the power deck they used on the practice track was just part of some sort of plan to get us to send Jack in first," Jake finished.

The group of them glanced at Team Unicorn, which sat down the way. The two of them that were there were smiling. So clearly that _had_ been the plan all along. And it just became all the more obvious as Andre made move after move that wrecked Jack's playing style. It was just about to get slightly better – when Bruno noticed a problem.

"Leo, signal Jack to pull over to fix his runner," Bruno said. Leo nodded and pulled out the sign.

"What?" Jack said, narrowing his eyes. "Why would they want me to pull over when I'm just getting warmed up?"

"Why do I get the feeling he won't listen?" Jake rolled his eyes, turning to Leyvaten and Stardust, both which were full-sized and relaxing nearby. "Could one of you send the message through his deck?"

"_Should be simple," _Stardust nodded, before sending the message along.

"_Jack, do as they say, there's a problem with the runner," _Red Dragon Archfiend called up to his duelist.

"A problem with the runner?" The former King realized that it would be better to do as was requested, and stopped for the check-up.

"Wow, you actually pulled in," Bruno commented, racing forward. "There was something in the air filter that could make it blow."

Jack decided that it had been a good idea to pull over, and after losing only a single speed counter, he was back on the track with everything set straight. It was also a good idea for this, considering the fact that in the next turn, he was wiped out from a trap card – but he was able to pass the baton without suffering any penalties, which made a huge difference for Akiza, because it meant she could play speed spells right away.

"I swear, this duel is going to take years off my life," Jake said as he sighed with relief while Akiza brought Andre to the very brim.

"_Don't forget, though," _Leyvaten began to say with a grin, Stardust having joined his card that was now out on the field. _"We have an advantage of our own."_

"That's true," Luna agreed.

"Yeah, with that kind of advantage, we get our ears talked off half the time," Jake smiled.

A couple of the people there snorted in amusement, but otherwise, they rolled their eyes before snapping back to attention. At the exact moment that Akiza was about to be hurt through Speed World 2 , she activated a trap card. It cost her 800 points, but it brought Stardust right back to the field, and she pulled right back in to the pit.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered quietly, as the cards were moved to Yusei's runner.

"Why? You did great!" Jake said with a smile.

"Yeah, it's not over yet," Yusei agreed. "There's still a chance."

"_Hurry it up, Yusei!"_ Stardust called. _"Don't get left behind!"_

"Okay, okay!" Yusei chuckled, as he revved up and out of the pit.

"_C'mon, Akiza,"_ Black Rose said gently, getting her duelist's attention. _"Nobody else is sad that you lost, nor are they mad. I mean, look at your parents."_

Akiza did just that – and noticed that her father was gladly cheering for her, waving a big flag and everything. The audience, shortly after, started to applaud her and the team.

"_See? There's nothing to worry about,"_ Black Rose continued. _"Everything's fine. Just relax and cheer on Yusei."_

The psychic smiled and agreed to this idea, as she moved her runner out of the way, and then their attention was snapped back to the duel. Andre had fallen fast, faster than Team Unicorn had planned – and the field was wiped. Very quickly, Breo got out his Electric Bicorn and had Yusei send two cards straight to the graveyard.

"Great, he's using a mill deck, that's not fun," Jake sighed.

"A mill deck?" Luna asked, confused.

"That's what Breo's kind of deck is called," Jake explained calmly. "It's a lot easier to say 'mill' than 'send to graveyard', wouldn't you agree?"

"I guess," Leo agreed with a bit of a shrug.

"But either way, decks like that cause big problems, because it prevents Yusei from getting to cards he needs in order to win – especially considering that he also has Jean to go through after he takes down Breo."

"You hear that?" Andre asked Jean quietly, over in their portion of the pit stop. "The kid thinks Yusei has a chance to win this."

"And as long as we have the advantage," Jake continued, not hearing Andre. "He still has a really big chance."

"Advantage?" Jean wondered, snickering. "The guy's got only 4000 life points, 30 cards, and everything against him."

_This guy's really pushing me into a corner,_ Yusei thought to himself, his eyes narrowing slightly – but then he smirked, catching Jean and Andre's attention.

"Why's he smiling like that?" Andre wondered.

"Does it have something to do with the advantage that kid mentioned?"

"_They don't have a clue, do they?" _Sonic Chick asked from the deck.

"Probably not," Yusei agreed. "Now we have a duel to win!"

"_Yeah!"_

_1234567890987654321_

"Wow, Yusei, way to play," Jake complimented. "But that's cutting it a bit close. Are you _trying_ to shorten my lifespan?"

"I doubt that _I_ could do that," Yusei retorted, in the same joking manner. "You seem to do it pretty well yourself."

Before Jake could respond, Stardust cut in, _"I agree, what with all the sugar and caffeine you consume."_

"Oh, come on, I don't take _that _much!"

"I don't know, you seem to be pretty hyper most of the time."

"What? Oh, come on, support me a little here!"

"_I've been with you for years, I've gotta agree with them on this."_

"Leyvaten, you're supposed to be on my side! What's a guy gotta do to get a little love around here?"

This was all exchanged at the little party that the team was having in their garage to celebrate their come-from-behind victory. It was crashed, kind of, by Sherry Le'Blanc and her talk of Yliaster. Such talk kind of kills the mood, really. It was the next couple of days that ruined the mood even more, however...

"Akiza..." Yusei whispered quietly, looking sadly at her prone form that lay in the hospital bed. Something had ruined her duel runner, and from Bruno's words on the phone a moment ago, her rear wheel had suddenly stopped spinning.

"_Black-Feather's right, it was a hook of some sort,"_ Black Rose told Jake, whom was focusing and listening to Akiza's deck and trying to get info down.

"The same thing happened to Team Unicorn yesterday," Jake said. "Breo came and showed the data on their runners to us. Then we saw the footage of the duel with Team Catastrophe, they had Hook the Hidden Knight out."

"_I thought I sensed a summon right before we crashed,"_ Black Rose added, and that made Jake's fist clench.

"Then... it's possible that..."

"Those jerks must've done this!" Crow hissed, angrily storming out of the room, Yusei and Jack following. Jake did the same after a few more words from Black Rose.

"Crow, you can't duel, your arm!" Yusei said.

"I have to get them for this, Yusei," Crow snapped at his friend.

"You forget something, Crow," Jake frowned. "I'm still here."

Crow stared at the younger duelist, and after a minute, nodded.

"But we don't know for sure if it was really them," Jack pointed out.

"That's fine," Jake said, starting to walk out. "The moment I contact their deck, we'll know."

_1234567890987654321_

"Where's your third duelist?" The man that had two marks, Hermann, asked in a taunting manner.

"Right here," Jake said, before looking straight at the deck in his opponent's deck holder.

The attention of the synchro monsters nearby, with Leyvaten, snapped to him immediantly.

"_Jake?" _Leyvaten ventured carefully, watching as Hermann smirked and went over to his teammates, while Jake's came over to him. She was shocked at the pure rage she was sensing flowing from him in waves.

"It _was_ them," He spat harshly. "I can hear that damn _Hook_ bragging to everyone else in their decks about how _he's_ the reason the other teams have suffered."

Team 5D's immediantly understood their friend's anger, but they were only able to do one thing before the duel began and Jake got onto his runner and pulled up next to Hermann.

"Be careful, Hermann," Jake glared at the man. "Your _deck_ should stop bragging about its _illegal_ activites."

The man was confused, but Jake was too infuriated to notice.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there's been trouble for Team 5D's!" The MC called from his place, high above the track. "Akiza Izinski has been wounded through a tragic event, and so Jake Rikota is taking her place! Little is known about this new turbo duelist, so let's see what he has to offer agains the unstoppable Team Catastrophe!"

"More than someone like you can withstand," Jake hissed out of his mouth, his glare more intense than any he'd given around his new friends.

"_I've never seen him this angry,"_ Stardust commented to Leyvaten.

"_I have,"_ She replied. _"But only once. Someone almost destroyed my card, to get him to stop 'talking to nothing'... needless to say, that guy got what he earned."_

Then, the timer was over as quickly as it started, and Jake was immediantly out of the gate, just as Hermann was. It was close, and Jake smirked.

"You want the first turn?" He taunted, backing off a bit.

Hermann smirked, "How kind of –"

"Psyche!"

The older duelist growled as Jake had tricked him into going to the outer corner, and now the younger had shot past him.

"And with that little play, Jake gets the first move! Let's see what he's got to show the world for his debut!"

_More than this punk will _ever_ be able to handle!_ Jake thought to himself, as he set up his hand and drew the first card. "First I summon Dragunity Pilum! When he's summoned, I'm allowed to special summon one Winged Beast-type Dragunity monster from my hand, and I choose Dragunity Primus Pilus! As a result, Pilum is equipped to Primus Pilus!"

_Dragunity Pilum (Dragon/Tuner): 1400 ATK/1000 DEF, 3 Star_

_Dragunity Primus Pilus (Winged-Beast/Effect): 2200 ATK/1600 DEF, 5 Star_

One small green dragon had appeared, and in moments, had been moved behind a man-looking creature with powerful wings and a whip.

"Then I put out three face-downs and call it a turn!"

_Both Players: 1 SPC (Speed Counters)_

_Jake: 4000 LP_

_Hermann: 4000 LP_

"My move, then, kid!" Hermann smirked. "Now I summon Hook the Hidden Knight!"

Jake grit his teeth at this – this was the monster that'd hurt his friends, and he couldn't get hurt here, that wouldn't be a good thing.

"But I'll place a face-down and end my turn!"

_Both: 2 SPC_

_LP is unchanged._

Jake frowned as he drew his card for turn, then started to make his move.

"I activate my trap card, Legacy of Yata-Garasu! It allows me to draw one extra card!"

He looked at what he received, and realized immediantly what was going on.

"You guys..." He whispered to himself, understanding their feelings immensely well. "I almost forgot. I'm not the only one that wants them to pay for what they've done..."

There was a chorus of agreements, and Jake moved on, "Now I activate the ability of Dragunity Arma Mystletainn from my hand! By sending Dragunity Primus Pilus and Dragunity Pilum to the graveyard, I can special summon her! Give a warm welcome, would you?"

_Dragunity Arma Mystletainn (Dragon/Effect): 2100 ATK/1500 DEF, 6 Stars_

A chorus of cheers and gasps arose from the crowd as a beast wielding an large sword appeared in a shower of light. The muscles rippling as they heaved the weapon they gripped proved her power.

"Oh, and this debut is moving on to a real show of prowess!" MC called happily, watching with a grin as the monster appeared.

"That's not all, because when Mystletainn is summon, I can equip her with a monster that's in my graveyard – such as Dragunity Pilum! But don't forget, I still have a normal summon – and I'm bringing out Dragunity Aklys! By his effect, I can special summon one dragon-type Dragunity from my hand and equip them with Aklys – and I think I know just the one to choose!"

_Dragunity Aklys (Dragon/Tuner): 1000 ATK/800 DEF, 2 Stars_

Jake picked out the monster from his hand, and smiled at what she was saying.

"I summon Dragunity Arma Leyvaten!"

_Dragunity Arma Leyvaten (Dragon/Effect): 2600 ATK/1200 DEF, 8 Stars_

There was a series of gasps around the audience, as the second dragon appeared. It looked far more powerful than the first – especially considering the difference in the two dragon's swords. Plus the wings on the new one just looked absolutely gorgeous!

"Now – Leyvaten, take down that Knight!"

"I don't think so!" Hermann exclaimed with a smirk. "Whenever a monster chooses Hook the Hidden Knight as an attack target, both monsters switch to defense position, and then you take 800 points of damage!"

Leyvaten gave a scowl as she was forced to change positions, and a light erupted from Hook and enveloped Jake. He grunted and squinted through it, trying to see the road so that he didn't –

"_Look out!"_

He snapped to attention, and swerved right in an instant. Hermann frowned, did the kid see the hook? No, he couldn't have, nobody else had – and especially not this kid!

"_I saw the hook coming up from the left of your rear wheel,"_ Mystletainn told Jake.

"Thanks," He replied, before speaking up. "Well, you may have done damage, but so will Mystletainn! You see, when she's equipped with Dragunity Pilum, as long as she sacrifices half of her attack points for the battle phase, she can attack you directly! Mystletainn, go in for the strike!"

"Jake swerves to apparently dodge something! Can he see something that we can't? But that doesn't matter, with that powerful dragon going in for the attack! It seems Hermann couldn't really avoid taking damage this turn!"

"Great, if he keeps complimenting you guys your egos will be enormous," Jake teased his deck. Leyvaten rolled his eyes at him, while Mysteltainn gave him a glare as she returned from slicing apart the opponent's life points.

"I end my turn!" Jake told Hermann.

_Both: 3 SPC_

_Jake: 3200 LP_

_Hermann: 2950 LP_

"I draw and place a face-down! That's it!" Hermann said.

_Both: 4 SPC_

_LP is unchanged._

"I draw!" Jake blinked at what he received, and smiled. It seems that _some_ monsters were eager to get revenge for their friend, just as he himself was. "Alright... now I activate a trap card known as Class Change!"

Team Catastrophe, along with a lot of people in the stadium, were confused at this card's effect.

"What it does is that for the next three turns, speed spells are considered ground spells, and vice versa!"

"Alright! That'll keep them from using any speed spells!" Crow cheered from the pit.

"And that combo might just ruin Team Catastrophe's plan in terms of spells!" The MC called out.

"Now I use the spell card, Pot of Greed! I draw two cards!" Jake's smile widened at what he received. They _really_ wanted a shot at this guy. "Hermann... by the end of this turn, you're going to learn why you shouldn't mess with my friends."

_He definitely knows,_ Hermann thought to himself in alarm. _But how! We've kept it a secret this entire time!_

"First I summon Dragunity Militum!"

_Dragunity Militum (Winged-Beast/Effect): 1700 ATK/1200 DEF, 4 Stars_

"Now I activate the spell card, Monster Reborn! Return to the field, Dragunity Primus Pilus! Next is the card known as One for One! First I send a card in my hand to the graveyard, before special summoning a monster from my hand or deck, and I choose Dragunity Darkspear! Come on out to play, friend."

_Dragunity Darkspear (Dragon/Tuner): 1000 ATK/1000 DEF, 3 Stars_

"Let's get started, shall we?" Jake asked his full field of monsters, Pilus and Darkspear smirking.

"This kid's debut is starting to show just what kind of skills and deck he's got ready and raring to go! He's also got a tuner monster out, is he planning to synchro summon?"

"That's exactly what he's doing," Bruno said, but he looked confused. "But what synchro is he going to summon? I didn't see any synchros in his deck."

Jake smirked at the speculation of his friends and the MC – they were spot on. And with the help of his teammates, he had quite a few surprises in store.

"Darkspear tunes with Primus Pilus!"

Darkspear smirked and leapt forth, his stars turning into three green rings that Pilus gladly leapt into, shining through and showing his own five stars.

"Out of two will come one, and out of one comes great cosmic might!" The audience's eyes bulges out of their head at the familiar chant, Team Catastrophe starting in their seats. "I synchro summon, Stardust Dragon!"

_Stardust Dragon (Dragon/Synchro/Effect): 2500 ATK/2000 DEF, 8 Stars_

"_Welcome to the battle," _Leyvaten greeted him with a smile, the both of them transferring their spirits to their cards. They wanted to get their revenge for their friends.

"What a surprise! Jake is using Yusei Fudo's ace monster! And from the look on the king's face, it looks like this was planned!"

"But that's not all, Hermann!" Jake said. "I activate Dragunity Militum's effect!"

"This kid isn't ready to stop, is he?" MC cut in at this. "He just keeps on going! What is he going to do next, I wonder?"

"Through Militum's effect, Dragunity Aklys is allowed to be summoned to the monster zones! Now, let's go!"

"_You're taking me next?"_

"That's right," Jake said, grinning to Hermann as he spun around on his runner, and rode backwards. "Now! Begin the summon!"

Aklys, glowing a light green and releasing his stars to the sky for Mystletainn to leap into, raced its outline into Hermann's face-down and destroyed it.

"When Aklys is sent to the graveyard from play, he destroys one card on your field! Now then... watch as the wings of these two beasts merge in a shower of protection and grace! I synchro summon Black-Winged Dragon!"

_Black-Winged Dragon (Dragon/Synchro/Effect): 2800 ATK/1600 DEF, 8 Stars_

Said dragon roared his anger and fury to the skies, before glaring full-force at Hermann. This man was _so_ going down, and right now!

"That's Crow's star synchro! Is he planning on summoning all of Team 5D's synchro monsters this turn?"

"How many of you guys gave him your synchros for this?" Leo asked the three.

"Only me and Yusei," Crow answered.

"Acutally, Crow... there's one more," Jake said through the mic in his helmet, startling the team, having long since spun back around to face forward as he rode.

"There's one more synchro to summon, he says," the MC cried in enjoyment at this intense duel. "But how will he pull it off when he's used all of his normal summons for the turn?"

"By activating the trap card known as Flashback! After paying 1000 life points, I can use a spell card that's in the graveyard, but then I must remove it from play – and I'm activating Monster Reborn! Come on back, Dragunity Darkspear!"

Darkspear grinned as it flew onto the scene, the three powerful dragons behind him smirking at the look of shock, awe, and possibly fear on both Hook's and Hermann's face. They very clearly understood their rage.

"Now for the third and final synchro summon!" Jake exclaimed with a grin at the roar he very clearly heard – and that the audience would soon experience. "Darkspear, tune with Militum!"

As the familiar rings and stars appeared, Jake smiled at the reactions of the audience as he began the chant that just went so well with this dragon.

"Let the spirit of both the earth and sky intertwine and create a beast unlike any other! I synchro summon the Black Rose Dragon!"

_Black Rose Dragon (Dragon/Synchro/Effect): 2400 ATK/1800 DEF, 7 Stars_

The Black Rose glared so darkly at the other duelist and his monster that it's a wonder they didn't piss themselves.

"_For what you've done to our duelists..."_ Black Rose hissed at them, even though she knew that only Hook would understand her.

"_You will pay the price!"_ Black-Winged finished.

"Now we enter the battle phase – Leyvaten, you're up first!"

"Hook the Hidden Knight's ability activates, forcing both monsters into defense mode, and you take 800 points of damage!" Hermann smirked. _And now you'll crash because of his other ability..._

"Actually, because of Black-Winged Dragon's ability, he takes the hit for me, at the cost of 700 attack points!" Jake replied, as the damage vanished and the dragon's wings darkened a bit. "Because that's what friends do – they cover for each other!"

Jake didn't hesitate as he glanced behind him and spotted the hook coming out of his runner's shadow – and immediately moved to the side, making Team Catastrophe growl.

"Next is Stardust Dragon! Eliminate Hook the Hidden Knight!"

Hermann scowled as the holographic shards flew up in his face, but at least he didn't lose any life points.

"Now for Black-Winged Dragon!" Jake said, spinning around his runner once more.

Jake's opponent cried out as the powerful stream of power slammed into him; did Hermann sense some sort of anger and rage in the attack? But how?

_Jake: 3200 LP_

_Hermann: 850 LP_

"And finally, Black Rose Dragon! Take him down!"

"_With pleasure,"_ Black Rose hissed, as she pulled back her vines and struck.

She was a bit disappointed by the fact that her attack wasn't real, since Jake didn't have psychic abilites like her duelist did... like Akiza used to. They had mysteriously disappeared recently.

_Jake wins._

"And with that, Rikota has eliminated Hermann from the tournament! The kid's made quite the debut into the world of turbo dueling!"

"Wow, Jake!" Leo cheered, as said person pulled into the pit and passed the baton to Jack, along with all of the cards on the duel disk. "You did really, really well out there!"

"When did you pick up Black Rose?" Crow asked, as Jack and Nicolas rode onto the dueling track.

"Back at the hospital," Jake explained, grinning at Leo's enthusiasm. "She practically ordered me to help her get revenge on the ones who hurt Akiza, and I agreed to do it."

"You know, I've never seen you that mad before," Yusei told him. The teen shrugged.

"They had it coming, messing with my friends like that. That's one of the few things that I just won't tolerate."

Their attention was caught when there was an explosion. After about a minute, however, Jack came out unscathed along with all of the dragons. As the duel ended, Leyvaten and Stardust returned to their bodies that were currently plushie-sized and relaxing on Team 5D's pit stop desk. There was one more problem, however...

"Jake, is this going to happen everytime you're overly emotional when you duel?" Jack demanded as he returned to the pit.

"Is what going to happen?" Jake asked, as he turned around from checking his runner. Then he gave a big sigh. "You have _got_ to be joking me."

The two in question gave sheepish looks, while Stardust and Leyvaten gave dull 'not again' looks to them.

"Okay, now I'm wondering what in the world is making you guys appear in this world outside of duels," Jake said, frowning in confusion at the two that hovered there. At least there was _some_ cover from the audience. "Leyvaten, Stardust, could you really quickly get them to shrink their size or something? The guests that can see them are starting to freak out."

"_It's not all that hard,"_ Leyvaten told the two, and quickly explained. Thankfully, they were equally quick in doing as Jake suggested.

"_I need to get back to Akiza,"_ Black Rose stated.

"Black Rose, if you go to the hospital, the staff will freak out, as will her parents," Jake pointed out. "If I take back your card, will you stay at the garage?"

"_I guess this means I have to do the same?"_ Black-Winged wondered.

"Great, _another_ mouth to feed," Crow sighed, as they left the stadium for home.

"_Says the one who eats more than I do!"_

"I don't eat that much!"

The group of them laughed, as they continued on out of the stadium – and stopped as they exited to find Trudge approaching.

"We have a problem," He announced to the group of them, opting to ignore the two new dragons.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **What got me to think that making Black Rose and and Black-Winged needed to be real? The hell if I know! Hope you liked.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Connections**_

"What kind of trouble?"

"The bad kind."

"_Greeaat..."_

"_How foolish of us to think we got away from it."_

"Seriously, is there any way for us to avoid trouble?"

"Apprently not."

"It looks like a bunch of those duel bots have been released to wreck havoc on the city," Trudge told them as they listened in to HQ's report.

Both Stardust and Yusei tensed at the very mention of the duel bot, something that went unnoticed by almost everyone there. The dragon smiled as Leyvaten pulled him closer in an attempt to comfort him, having noticed his reaction.

"_...Thanks,"_ He whispered to her thankfully.

"_Of course,"_ She responded quietly. They blinked at the hacking sound they heard, before turning to Black-Winged. Said dragon was giving the universal sign of gagging at the sight of their affection.

"_If you're going to get friendly like that, get a room,"_ He told them. Leyvaten sighed with exasperation.

"_Crow, how do you put up with him?"_ She decided to ask.

"Practice," He answered. "Now what're we going to do about these bots?"

"We have to go out and duel them, of course," Jack answered immediantly.

"We'll split into groups to get them faster and more efficiently," Yusei agreed with a nod. "But Crow, you have to stay. Your arm still needs to heal."

Crow sighed in disappointment, but nodded his agreement. Jake had already given back all of the cards, except for Black Rose's.

"I want to go to the hospital and give back your card," Jake said to the flowery dragon. "And considering the trouble, I think it would be a good idea to have you near Akiza."

"Will you join the duels afterwards?"

The young duelist frowned in thought, "I... don't know."

There were frowns of confusion before Leo spoke up, "Why not?"

Leyvaten moved next to Jake, and got a closer look at him. Then she blinked with surprise.

"_You're barely standing! What's wrong?"_ She exclaimed with worry, immediently moving to support him, something he gladly accepted.

"If I knew, I'd tell you," He admitted. "Perhaps riding to the hospital isn't such a good idea."

"Now that you mention it..." Crow started to say. "Maybe Leyvaten can fly you to the hospital, and Black Rose could just follow?"

"That would probably be a good idea," Jake agreed with a nod. He had to stabilize his balance afterwards, the motion throwing his balance off for a moment. "Yeah, definitely not going to be turbo dueling for a while if I can't even stand up right..."

There was a series of agreements from everyone nearby, watching his reaction to a simple nod. Whatever was wrong could probably be figured out at the hospital.

_1234567890987654321_

"Hey, you're awake," Jake called from the doorway, Leyvaten with him in her smaller form, as was Black Rose. The latter raced forward and hugged her duelist, making Akiza blink.

"...Did you have another case of bringing them to life again?" She asked her friend, whom nodded carefully. "Are you alright?"

"Kinda."

"...That's not very reassuring."

"It wasn't supposed to be."

Akiza rolled her eyes, and came forward to help Jake to sit on the bed, which he thanked her for.

"Here's Rose's card," Jake said, handing over the little white card. "Sorry for taking it without talking to you."

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure she asked you to," The older duelist assured. "Maybe you should get some rest."

"Not yet, Yusei and the others are out there, dueling a bunch of bots," Jake said, shaking his head. "Wanna stay up until they win."

"_Jake, you had trouble staying awake the entire time I carried you here," _Leyvaten scolded, frowning at her duelist's stubborn side. _"Get some rest; I'll tell you the results when you wake up."_

"...Promise?"

With a bit of a sigh, Leyvaten promised to tell him what had happened when he awoke. Within moments of laying on the bed, he was out.

"_He's more exhausted than he lets on, as usual,"_ She sighed, taking a spot near him.

"What caused it?" Akiza asked.

"_I don't know, but I think it started after his duel."_

"Wait, he dueled in my place?"

"_And kicked ass, of course,"_ Black Rose chimed in, sounding a bit smug. Akiza rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure you had fun with that."

"_Yeah, I'll have to agree with that."_

"Tell me about it later, for now could you tell me what's going on?"

"_I don't see why not,"_ Leyvaten shrugged, before explaining it very concisely.

Akiza got an idea, "Do you think he's this way from Black Rose and Black-Winged appearing? I think there might be some sort of link there."

"_I think you're right. I'm not sure why it happens, and nobody in my valley knows either."_

"What about Blue-Eyes?"

"_She left ages ago, had to return to her duelist."_

"Makes sense, I suppose," Akiza nodded, glancing at the young teen. "I just wish we knew more."

"_So do I, Akiza,"_ Leyvaten said, curling up close to her duelist, worry clear in her eyes. _"So do I."_

_1234567890987654321_

"NO!" Yusei cried out, as Primo once again stole Stardust Dragon.

"Ha! Is this the limit of this era's great Duel King?" Primo taunted, grinning darkly as he slammed the young duelist for enough damage to reduce him to 900 points, with his being double that. "Doesn't seem like much to me!"

The young king growled and pounded his fist on the dueling disk of his runner, upset and frustrated. Stardust's pain and fear from within the Meklord Emperor weren't helping, not to mention that he couldn't hear his dragon's voice anymore. Something about the machine cut it off, and that just set him on edge.

"_Yusei!"_

Who was that? He recognized it, but it was... faint, difficult to hear. He knew that voice, he was certain... but from where? It didn't matter, he needed to stop Primo from succeeding in ruining New Domino City – at any cost!

"_Yusei!"_

"_Debris, what's going on?"_

"_I don't know! I can't hear Stardust, and Yusei isn't responding!"_

"_I'm going to go check on Jake, maybe he can help! You keep trying Yusei!"_

"_Yusei, can you hear me? Yusei? Yusei! YUSEI!"_

_1234567890987654321_

Jake bolted upright, adrenaline surging in an instant. He didn't feel completely better, but he knew he had to get out of here and join in the duelling.

"_Jake!"_ Leyvaten exclaimed, leaping up when he tried to stand. _"You can't go, you have to –"_

"What I have to do, Leyvaten, is go out there and help!" Jake snapped, making the dragon flinch back. "I don't care how poorly I can stand, I'm going to duel. Yusei's deck... didn't you hear it?"

"_No..."_

Jake remained silent at that, as he forced himself up and took a moment to gain his balance. He refused to talk as he walked out of the hospital as quickly as he could, Leyvaten following closely behind.

"Where's our runner?"

"_Back at the stadium, I wouldn't have been able to carry it and you at the same time," _She answered. _"But you can't be serious about –"_

"I've never been more serious, Leyvaten!" Jake cut her off, once again catching her off guard as he stared into her eyes, his burning with a fire she hadn't seen before. "Yusei's deck came to me asking for help. He can't hear them right now, something's cutting off their connection, probably having to do with his duel. And what I am going to do, with or without your help, is go out there and help him!"

He started to walk off, rather unsteadily, but was picked up as he went.

"_Then let me at least carry you to our runner,"_ She said. _"And get some rest on the way. You'll need it."_

Jake had nothing to say to that, he was still rather tired. He just hoped he'd have the strength to help.

_1234567890987654321_

"What's the matter, Yusei? Make your move!"

New Domino's King grit his teeth as he drew a card, playing it immediantly, "I play Necro Linker in defense mode! That'll be my turn!"

"Pathetic!" Primo laughed, as he drew. "I activate my trap, Wise T3! It allows me to special summon Wisel Top 3, and replace the current Wisel Top with it!"

_Meklord Emperor Wisel Infinity (Machine/Effect): 5000 ATK/2500 DEF, 1 Star 5500 ATK/2500 DEF, 1 Star_

"Meklord Emperor Wisel, attack Yusei's pathetic monster!"

Right as the attack was about to land, Yusei activated his Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, but the trap was destroyed; thankfully, he only had to discard Arbitrator from his hand to stop the battle phase, at the cost of the trap being destroyed.

"Very well then, you've only stalled your destruction for one turn! Make your move!"

Yusei took a deep breath, and as he reached for his deck, he got the faint feeling that someone was calling for him and he couldn't hear them. When he tried to pull out a card, his runner buzzed at him, making both him and Primo confused.

"What?" Yusei asked. "You said you ended your turn! What'd you do?!"

Primo, for once, was silent, as the both of them looked over their duel screens – and received a shock. A third duelist had appeared! But how?! They were in a duel!

"He forgot that all Duel Runners were still locked in Battle Royal mode!"

Yusei started and turned to see if his suspicions were correct – and he was shocked to see that they were. There, catching up, was Jake and Leyvaten. Checking his screen, Yusei noticed the teen had Leyvaten out, three face downs, and four cards in hand – and a familiar one in effect.

"So did you, apparently," He smirked to his friend, whom slowed down just enough for the younger duelist to get closer.

"Are you alright? You look horrible."

"Certainly describes how I feel," Jake admitted. "But I heard your deck."

Yusei gave a confused look, which made Jake sigh, before the teen sped forward.

"Primo, eh? Thanks for the duel bots. Certainly made it easy to build up to this point. Don't worry, I got dinged for arriving late, lost 1000 life points."

_Jake: 3000 Life Points (LP), 0 Speed Counters (SPC)_

_Yusei: 600 LP, 0 SPC_

_Primo: 1800 LP, 6 SPC_

"How dare you interrupt our duel!" Primo snarled.

"Not my fault you were stupid enough to forget about battle royal mode!" Jake snapped. "And it's not my fault your emperor's got a loud voice. I could hear it a mile down the track."

It was that sentence that jarred Yusei, making him realize exactly what was giving him a familiar feeling. He looked down at his deck, and noticed how their voices were muffled, like he was in a water tank and they were trying to reach him through the glass and water. As if that was the key, their voices started to get clearer, but very slowly.

"Now if you'd be so kind as to shut up, I'd like to take my turn! I've already drawn, so pay attention," Jake said, placing a card face-down next to the other two. "I'll place this card face-down, then I'll activate this one!"

"I negate and destory it through Wisel Top 3's ability!" Primo exclaimed, watching as Dragon's Rebirth was destroyed harmlessly.

"Fine with me, because I'll activate this one instead! Escape From the Dark Dimension!" A dark portal appeared above their heads. "It allows me to return one Dark monster to the field from my RFG zone! Welcome back, Darkflare Dragon!"

A dragon erupted from the portal, bursting into dark flames as he slowed to keep up with his duelist.

"If you notice, now that I'm here, your spell cards have changed to be ground spells. This is due to Class Change, it turns a ground spell into a speed spell, and vice versa. So now I'm casting Card Destruction!"

"I use Wisel Guard to negate and destroy it!" Primo growled. This... this... _boy_ was just jumping into _his_ duel and already had field presence!"

"_We're stalling to give Yusei time to recover and hear his deck again, right?"_ Darkflare asked.

"That's right. Now I activate Burial From a Different Dimension! It allows me to put three cards in my RFG zone back into my graveyard! With that done, I now activate Monster Reborn, and bring back Lightpulsar Dragon!"

On the opposite side of Leyvaten, a glowing cross appeared, before shifting into the form a dragon with a white coat, wings spread wide as she slowed down to keep pace with the duel runner, giving a wink across to her mate. Darkflare grew a slight blush, but remained fairly stoic.

"I think that's good enough for now," Jake said, looking to his older friend. _Assuming he can hear them again now._

"Alright, now I go!" Yusei exclaimed.

"_Are you alright?"_ Rescue Warrior asked immediantly.

"Yeah, now I am," He responded as he summoned the creature. "I'm going to have Rescue Warrior attack Meklord Emperor Wisel Infinity!"

Jake's eyebrows rose, until Yusei stated that the creature's effect negated all battle damage, which was a very, very good thing. When the warrior is destroyed, Yusei can also return a creature he owns but an opponent controls back to his side of the field – such as Stardust Dragon. The effect of Skiel Carrier 5 still made him lose 300 points.

_Jake: 3000 LP, 1 SPC_

_Primo: 1800 LP, 6 SPC_

_Yusei: 300 LP, 1 SPC_

"_Thank Ra you're alright!"_ Leyvaten exclaimed immediantly, her worry flowing through in waves.

"_Thanks to you guys providing a nice distraction," _He answered calmly.

"And now I tribute Necro Linker in order to special summon Formula Synchron, and with his effect, I draw a card!"

"Formula Synchron?" Jake wondered, looking to Leyvaten, whom shrugged.

"_Spoilers, Jake,"_ Synchron said with a smirk, as Yusei ended his turn.

"Oh, come on!"

It was at this point that Primo finally figured out what Jake was doing, "You can speak to the cards!"

"Took you long enough to figure it out. What's your point?"

"The boy who can speak to cards... our plan's biggest threat!" At this, the infinity symbol appeared around Jake and Primo.

"What are you talking about?"

"It doesn't matter! Wisel Infinity, strike the boy!"

"_Yes, sir,"_ The machine intoned calmly, coldly.

"I activate the trap card Interdimensional Matter Transporter for Leyvaten!"

"Wisel Top 3 negates and destroys it!"

"Then I activate Windstorm of Etequa, it changes the battle positions of all of your monsters!"

"I activate a face-down, Final Attack Orders!"

"_Jake!"_ Leyvaten cried, flinging herself around her duelist. Despite her protective position, much of the damage still went through as the blast obliterated her.

"Rrgg!" Jake grit his teeth, as he did everything in his power to keep from spinning out. His lack of strength from before the duel wasn't helping anyway, blackness was already encroaching on his vision from the corners of his eyes. _Gotta stay... awake...!_

_Jake: 100 LP, 1 SPC_

_Primo: 1800 LP, 7 SPC_

_Yusei: 300 LP, 2 SPC_

"And that will end my turn," Primo snarled, displeased he was unable to finish off the boy.

Jake's hand trembled as he drew, the adrenaline was barely, _barely_ keeping him awake. "I... play this card face-down and call it a turn."

"Is that all the fabled Speaker of the Cards can do?! Ha!"

_'Speaker of the Cards'?_ Jake wondered, giving Primo a tired glare, but the guy was fairly tight-lipped when Yusei took his turn, opting to start by beginning to speed up upon drawing.

Jake thought this was rather strange, especially when he heard Stardust go absolutely silent, as if he were focusing heavily on something. Leyvaten was paying attention from where she was in her card, despite being in the graveyard zone at the moment. When Yusei vanished into a cone of light, ignoring Primo's taunts, Jake's vision flashed for just a moment, just one very short moment.

He found himself back in that room, the one in his mind; there, on the wall, the flash of light had faded and it showed a dragon. One he'd never heard or seen of before, something that reminded him of the time between night and day, something between light and dark. And then the vision was gone, and he jolted in his Duel Runner, and found himself looking into the eyes of a new dragon.

"_You alright there, Jake?"_

Jake glanced at his duelling screen, and spotted a new card on Yusei's field, and quickly deduced who this was. "Wow, Stardust, that's quite the upgrade."

The dragon gave a grin, _"Leyvaten certainly thinks so."_

"Now, it's time for the battle phase!" Yusei exclaimed. I activate Shooting Star Dragon's ability! I reveal the top five cards of my deck, and for the number of tuners I reveal, he gets to attack that many times! Let's see how lucky you are, Primo! Nitro Synchron! Junk Synchron! Effect Veiler! Debris Dragon! And finally, Hyper Synchron! That's five attacks!"

"What?! No!" Primo cried, as Shooting Star Dragon flew high and split into five different copies, each colored differently. "Skiel Carrier 5 will negate one attack!"

"Fine, but there's still four more!"

"And Wisel Guard 3 become the target of one, and the battle damage is negated!"

"But it can't do that twice!"

With three strikes, Wisel Guard 3, Skiel Carrier 5, and Wisel Top 3 were smashed to smithereens, and with them, Primo's life points.

_Jake: 100 LP, 2 SPC_

_Primo: 0 LP, 8 SPC (Lose)_

_Yusei: 300 LP, 2 SPC_

"I'll just surrender, Yusei," Jake said, as he shakily picked his cards off his duelling deck. "I don't really have anymore strength after that blast." _Or after that vision._

"Understandable," Yusei nodded, as Leyvaten reappeared in her real form and the duel runners went out of duelling mode. Stardust had returned to his original form, and the dragoness sidled up to him.

"_You damn well better learn how to become that at will,"_ She growled lustfully into his ear. _"I want to see how big you are in that form, got it?"_

Stardust gave her a bemused look before scooping her in his arms and giving her the most passionate kiss he could, even as they flew along. _"You bet."_

"Jake, you've done it again!"

"Again?" Jake said tiredly. He noticed the neither Darkflare nor Lightpulsar had faded after the battle, making them feel rather uncomfortable. "Yusei, you deal with it, I'm too tired."

Yusei was about to retort, but noticed that the teen was, indeed, exhausted. It was a wonder he was still moving at all. With a few button presses, the older duelist made the younger's runner fall into an automated path behind him. Within seconds of this, Jake was out.

"It seems that the Speaker of the Cards is still getting used to his powers," A voice called from above.

A minute later, the other Signers appeared, where they had a lovely chat with the two other Meklord deck users, both of whom held Primo in contempt for his actions. They also commented on how Jake was more important than any of them could imagine, including the boy himself, but that was all – before they vanished. With the resignation to face the three off in the Grand Prix, they gathered themselves up and headed back to the garage. They all wanted to get some answers on who, or what, Jake really was – and what his abilities were. Before that, though, they wanted to clean themselves up and rest.

They just knew that they'd need as much rest as they could get before the Grand Prix continued...

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Holy crap, this was annoying to get out. I was stuck for the longest time on what to do with Jake! And now I want to see what you guys think... while I try and decide on what to do with him now...


	11. Chapter 11

_**Connections**_

Stardust watched as his mate continuously paced about her chambers. After so long, they decided to simply make the ravines connect. It hadn't been hard, really; those with wings flew towards the rather close-by home of Leyvaten, and several tunnels were created to allow those that were grounded to travel between the two places. He wasn't sure what she was thinking, it was quite the pensive look on her face.

"What're you thinking about?" He finally asked.

She gave him a glance, "Jake. How he talks to duel monsters so casually. Those guys that called him the Speaker of the Cards. Bringing us out there in real life bodies. All that stuff. Obviously it's all connected, but I have to wonder if him teaching the others to talk to their decks is, too."

"He can sense from a distance if a deck's voices are silenced," Stardust commented from where he sat, getting her to stop and look at him. "First time we ran into Roman, remember? He was the first to notice the guy; called him out before he had a chance to get the jump on us."

Leyvaten gave her mate a small smile, "He felt physical pain whenever he encountered the Dark Tuners and their subsequent summons."

"To the point where this very ravine shook. Not to mention it carried over to me, when it shouldn't have."

"Because you aren't connected to him at all. He can hear you simply because he's been able to do that for as long as I've known him, and the others can hear you because of a sort of broadcast system that lets them pick up on what we say in our real world bodies."

"And Rex's deck caused him enough pain to make him unconscious, something about it being too much of a conflict for him to be able to take it."

"Blue-Eyes appearing out of nowhere, something about him being a pure soul."

This back and forth deducing had brought them to start more or less circle each other, bouncing these ideas around as the clues kept popping up about Leyvaten's chambers. This deducing thing was very exciting, mostly because of the way it got them to interact and show how well they knew each other's thoughts... and partly because of how Sherlock and Watson it felt.

"But he can summon dark attribute monsters without worry, Darkflare Dragon."

"He's a fairly new member of the ravine, as is Lightpulsar. Something about them got Jake's attention; he claimed that their voices seemed to stand out, something about them practically calling out to him and how they seemed to be who he needed to put in the deck. So the attribute isn't problem, especially since he's summoned other dark monsters before with little problem. He just said that they didn't feel right to have in the deck, despite being able to hear them as clearly as the rest of us."

"Not to mention he's able to put his whole heart into each duel, especially synchro summons. As we both know, synchros can be summoned by anybody, but not just anybody can summon a synchro the way the Signers can, even before they met him. Jake's on that level, been on it for years. Maybe even above it."

"Not to mention he brought them to life, and it drained him to the point of losing his balance."

"He heard my ravine's cries for help even though we weren't connected just yet, and we have an entire mountain seperating us. From what I've been told, while I was held captive, they hadn't even had to leave the confines of the ravine in order to get his attention."

"And not just get his attention, but wake up from near-unconsciousness. I should know, he was out cold on the bed Akiza let him use at the hospital. Next thing I know, he's getting his shoes on."

"Don't forget that whenever a deck is helping a duelist harm our friends, he's been known to let his rage take over, and it's the kind of rage that a protective dragon would put out."

"I have to admit, it does give that kind of sensation. We would have noticed it anyway back at the Heimann duel, but it had the sense of a dragon rearing their head to deliver their wrath, so it really caught our attention. You were wary of approaching him at the time."

"Instincts were telling me to be careful, something in my subconscious warning me that something inside him was getting ready to pounce and one bad move could send the danger the wrong way."

"Was there anything he did when the Crimson Dragon came about? When it first manifested?"

"He relaxed more than I've ever seen him relax before. The ravine itself seemed to be calm, our crops flourished weeks earlier than they should have and the river was cleaner than ever. The water even tasted better."

"The deduction of why Yusei was suddenly able to hear his own deck and Jake's? It seemed like a rather specific guess, to me."

Leyvaten paused as they paused, standing very close together, smiling as they looked each other in the eye. "It seems that everything's connected to my duelist and my ravine, maybe even yours. But why?"

"Perhaps a clue lies back in my chambers," Stardust said after a minute of thought. "I don't know why I hadn't thought of this sooner, it's on my wall, after all!"

Leyvaten raised an eyebrow as her mate launched into the air, something she did as she followed him. She was glad that Jake hadn't heard all of that, since he was currently nigh-unconscious as he rested from the last duel with Primo. The bringing of those two other dragons into the real world had drained him again, especially since it was right after doing so to the two Signer dragons. He'd be out for another week at the least, and the Signers didn't have another duel for a few days, so everyone was taking the time to recuperate for the upcoming fights. It gave her and her mate time to be together and relax as well.

"Here we are, my room," Stardust said as they finally landed at an open balcony near the upper area of the mountain near his ravine.

"This high up?"

"Closer to the stars."

Leyvaten smiled, "Makes sense. So what is it you wanted to show me?"

"This."

She turned to look as he pulled back a curtain to reveal odd, unknown lettering etched into a tablet there. Her smile slowly slid off her face as she stepped closer, eyeing it with eyes that were growing wider with each word.

"I don't have a clue what it is or what it says," Stardust says. "Nobody I've talked to can read it, and I didn't –"

"I can."

"...Pardon?"

"I can read it. All of it."

Stardust glanced from her to the tablet and back again. "Really?"

"It's talking about him. Jake. It refers to him the same way that Primo guy did, Speaker of the Cards."

The male watched as his mate almost went into a trance, slowly reading the tablet as she spoke, both of them gaining a larger understanding of just who the boy was.

"Says that out of all humans in the real world, there is only one at a time that is to be the Speaker of the Cards. As soon as one passes on, another is chosen. They are able to communicate with any and all cards as easily as they do a real person, and they will be powerful duelists. Powerful enough to be wary of their power; a Speaker of the Cards that feels threatened is the same as facing the unbridled wrath of a full-grown dragon."

"Explains our reactions when he faced Heimann; he felt threatened because our friends were hurt. He thought that those jerks were targeting people close to him, which makes one feel like they're going to be attacked, so they lash out in self-defence before the attacker can strike properly."

"There's more to it though," Leyvaten said. "A truly angered Speaker has happened only once before, it says... it claims that it is the equivalent of making an enemy of the universe itself. It doesn't say what happened to whoever angered that Speaker, though."

"Does it say anything else?" He asked when she paused for a significant amount of time.

"No, the text fades too much except for this little part down here. It says something about a Speaker's powers being hidden within the connection they have to the monsters they duel alongside with. That's it; it's all too worn down by the stupid elements and stuff to read anything else."

Stardust nodded understandingly. He stood there for a minute with her, letting her stare unfocused at it for a bit, before gently leading her to sit down staring up at the stars with him on the balcony. He wrapped a wing around her and drew her close, letting their warmth spread between them as she continued to mull over what was going on with her duelist. She'd known since they'd met that he was a special one, considering his ability; but to learn he was one in a long line of very special humans was new and, to be honest, it made her worry for him. What would happen if he learned of this? Well, he was already a target from those New World guys that had mentioned him being a threat to their plans.

As her mate's warmth soothed her, it slowly lulled her into a restful sleep, letting her thoughts go as she leaned against his shoulder to finally rest for a time. She'd think more on this with him later.

_1234567890987654321_

"_How are you guys doing?"_ Stardust asked Black Rose and Black-Winged the next morning, watching them closely as they continued to adjust to no longer being in the duel monster world. It wasn't difficult to be perfectly honest, but he still wanted to check. With the growing number of dragons appearing in the world, things were getting kind of ridiculous.

"_Still trying to get used to not being in our ravine,"_ Darkpulsar admitted. _"I have to admit, it's kinda exciting, but..."_

"Yeah, we get to personally see how you react to everything, too," Yusei chuckled. "Entertaining at the very least."

Crow laughed, "The vacuum cleaner was the best!"

Stardust looked to Darkpulsar and Lightspear, both whom looked sheepish and embarrassed. Those looks only made him wonder what had happened. But other things came first.

"_We think we found something out about Jake,"_ He told them, noticing that the entire garage went dead silent at his words. The group of duelists, from Akiza to Yusei, and each of the dragons, turned to him and Leyvaten. The two of them took a few moments to explain.

"Explains why Primo said he was a major threat to their plans," Jack commented. "If a Speaker of the Cards is really as dangerous as the slab said when they're really pissed, then I suppose I'd count that as a problem for any kind of plan."

"That's probably why he immediantly went after Jake as soon as he figured it out," Yusei said. "The moment Primo realized it, he completely ignored me and Stardust. It's like he didn't care about us anymore after that, at least until we did our Accel Synchro."

"_He vanished again for a moment when that happened,"_ Leyvaten said. _"Remember back when Blue-Eyes appeared, and I lost contact with him? The same thing happened when you did that. But there was no new card in the deck; I checked. The ravine was devoid of any new members, as well."_

"_Wait,"_ Lightpulsar suddenly said, standing slowly. _"The ravine... you said that the ravine shook back when he shared that pain from the Dark Signers, right?"_

"_Yes...?"_ Leyvaten said, raising an eyebrow. Then they both shot up, as realization dawned on her, and she slapped her forehead. _"Oh, how could I have been so bloody stupid!"_

"What? What is it?"

"_The ravine! The ravine itself! It's a reflection of Jake's heart!" _Everyone looked at her to explain, and it slowly dawned on them all how much sense it made._ "The pain from the Dark Signers, it shook when he finally shared it, to the point where it reached Stardust's ravine and even rebounded to him here in the real world. Against Heimann, when we felt that rage from him; you know that feeling you get when you can just tell that someone's angry? Mystletainn tells me that a shiver went down everyone's spines when he ran into that guy's deck, and that the ravine seemed to shake in its own rage."_

"So that means that this connection he's got to the duel monsters, like the slab said, runs far deeper than just communication," Crow continued. "It means that, kind of like Luna, his very soul has a tether to the place."

"But I can't talk to the spirits as easily as he can," Luna spoke up, Leo nodding in agreement with his sister.

Bruno spoke up next, "I think that's because you were chosen by the spirits to come to their aid. They taught you, whether you know it or not, how to speak to them. Jake didn't need to be taught like that; he was born with the ability to talk to them, probably before he was even able to properly walk and talk."

"_And if the ravine is a reflection of him," _Stardust said to his mate. _"Then it must have more information about what it means to be a Speaker of the Cards!"_

"_Let's go look. I can't wait any longer, I have to find out now. Especially since it's been under my nose for so damn long and I didn't even know!"_

With that, the two of them returned to the duel monster world. They had a mission to accomplish.

_1234567890987654321_

She couldn't believe she didn't think of this sooner. The members of her ravine that were there, some being in Stardust's and two of them being in the real world at the moment, were already beginning to search through their home as carefully as possible. If they damaged it, who knew what would happen to Jake? She and her mate joined in for a while, but it was fruitless. The ground was solid, nothing was seen from the highest altitude she or any dragon could manage, and there were no spells or enchantments that a Spellcaster could sense or find.

"Leyvaten?" Stardust said after a couple hours of finding nothing. "Why don't we try your room?"

"My room? There's nothing there," She said.

"We haven't even check it yet."

"But... oh, alright."

With a bit of a sigh, she flew off towards her chambers, with him following close behind. Once there, the two of them started to look about, although she wasn't very enthusiastic about it. Stardust was very tolerant towards her attitude, just proved to her he was worth it. As she was glancing under the bed, though, out of curiosity, something caught her eye.

"Hey, help me move this."

Within a few minutes, the bed had been shoved to the side, and Leyvaten found exactly what Stardust had thought might be there: a clue. Specifically, a handle to what might be a trapdoor, and when she pulled on it, she found that it was exactly that. When a glance to Stardust confirmed that he would be going with her, they vanished down through it quickly, finding themselves on a landing a few feet below that lead to a large hallway leading down. As soon as the trapdoor slammed shut and darkness filled their vision, torches flared to life all down the hall. Despite being only a bit below the floor of her room, the hallway was surprisingly large – and they both silently started down it almost immediantly.

At the end, there was a single enormous cavern, filled with lit torches that actually didn't show all that much – except for the ceiling. The ceiling was completely different on either side. On the west side, there seemed to be an image of the setting sun, and the east held the rising moon, stars accompanying it. And in the dead center of the room, was a statue of a dragon.

"Dear Ra... he's... he's huge..." Stardust whispered, eyes wide. "Look at that wingspan!"

"It's from wall to wall," Leyvaten agreed. "His head's practically touching the ceiling!"

"What dragon is he?"

"I... I have no idea..."

She said this as she started to flew up to the statue, reaching a claw out to the snout as she hovered close.

"Leyvaten, wait," Stardust called, flying up close to her. "I don't know if this is safe."

"He's just a statue, Stardust."

"No... I get the feeling he's not."

_Your mate is correct._

Both of the smaller dragons pulled away as fast as they could at the voice that seemed to echo from everywhere around them. They watched as the eyes to the statue slowly peeled open. One was the color of the morning's soft blue, and the other the shade of the evening's fading light. The pale gray stone slowly faded away from his body, as a soft, soothing gold replaced it for the most part. The off-white of the moon was on his underbelly, and lay around his claws and at the tip of his tail.

His eyes were the size of Leyvaten herself. Muscles rippled visibly as he carefully folding his wings across his back, showing that they were as dark as the pitch-black of the night sky, though the undersides were tinted to be more like the dark gray of the moon's craters. With as much care, he moved to be closer to the ground, making sure not to damage any portion of the room as he did so. It was then that Leyvaten noticed the writing there, the same writing on the tablet in her mate's chambers.

"Who... who are you?" She whispered, almost reverently.

_I am many things,_ He answered, a very clear smirk on his face at her less-than-specific inquiry._ I am the connection between your duelist and his deck. I am his soul creature. But most importantly, I am who he will soon call upon when he realizes his powers as the Speaker of the Cards._

"What should we call you?" Stardust asked, landing with his mate in front of the dragon's impressively large maw.

_You may refer to me as Evening Star Dragon._

"Are you why the ravine sometimes reacts to Jake's feelings?"

_Yes. Simply put, I _am_ the ravine. When Jake is angered, it reflects in me, and thus in the ravine; when he is calm, the ground and rivers are. When he is relaxed and happy, the earth and water heal and provide their gifts. When he is in pain..._

"It reflects in you as long as he's willing to share it, and thus into the ravine, which then shakes."

_And if it is severe enough, it reaches other, nearby ravines simply because of how far I reach._

Stardust frowned, "Does this mean you've been here as long as both Leyvaten and I have?"

_Longer. As you know, Speakers are always there; they have existed since duel monsters were first brought into the world – and each Speaker has a creature waiting for them. You two may have made your ravines seperately long ago, but I was already here._

"Why?"

_Because I knew you would come. And I knew you would eventually meet._

"How did you know?" Leyvaten asked this time, curiousity overwhelming her.

_Visions during my time in stone. That is all that you need to know about my knowledge. There is business that must be attended to first._

"What is it?"

_Jake will be waking far sooner than you expect. These tiles will tell you a few of his powers and abilities, many of which he has already demonstrated even though he doesn't know it. Tell him of this;but do not inform him or his friends of me._

"Why not?"

_I will tell him myself soon enough. He must hear it from me, and his friends must hear it from him._

"Is... is there anything else?"

The large dragon remained silent for a time, eyeing Leyvaten carefully. She watched as his lips curled into a soft smile.

_Just one more thing: congratulations._ _I will see you both once again soon._

With that, the creature's coloring slowly faded away into stone-gray again, as he froze in his new position. Both of the smaller dragons were slightly confused, but they agreed to discuss it later; they had to report what they found on these tablets first.

_1234567890987654321_

"Did you two find anything?" Crow asked the moment they made it clear they were back in their real world bodies.

"_Yes,"_ Leyvaten said simply, still rather shocked by the discovery. _"We found some more tablets in a hidden chamber beneath my room."_

"_You won't believe what was on them,"_ Stardust said.

"What?"

"_All of you being able to suddenly hear your decks? It wasn't because you opened your hearts; it was because Jake _let_ you create that connection. If he didn't, you could have tried his meditation idea all you wanted; it wouldn't have done anything."_

"_And all of us dragons being here is because of him as well."_

"We already knew that, though," Jack commented.

"_Well now we know for sure. Not only did he bring us here, it used his energy to give us the bodies in the first place. It takes a certain amount of time for his body to stop providing for ours, and during that time we're stuck in the real world until he stops fueling the connection. Only then can our spirits go back and forth between the duel monster world and these bodies."_

"Well that's certainly news," Bruno agreed.

Yusei stepped forward, "Did you find anything else down there?"

Stardust took a deep breath, _"Yes... but we promised not to say. Jake must hear of it himself, and then he will tell you."_

"Anything about why I can hear his deck? Did he allow that?"

"_No, it happened naturally. Because our ravines were close enough anyway, your connection to my ravine spread wide enough to reach Leyvaten's, but it wasn't until the change of your Signer mark, with that surge of energy as Jake guessed a while back, that the addition was made."_

The pro duelist nodded in understanding, turning to look upstairs towards where Jake was unconscious. "How much longer will he be out?"

"_From what we hear, he should be back on his feet at least by tomorrow, two days from now at most,"_ Leyvaten reported. _"And... don't be surprised if he grows rapidly into a powerful duelist, guys. What we saw... you won't believe it until you see it yourself. Trust me on that."_

The group of them nodded, before finally returning to their days. It had been surprisingly quick to get that information, but it was still very shocking. To find that dragon, and all of that stuff on the young duelist that was currently more or less in a coma upstairs.

Whatever was going to happen, it was going to be big.

They could feel it.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** This was certainly easier to type up than the last chapter. It just came to my mind how to iron out the kinks, and here it is. Yeah, not my proudest chapter, with all the telling-rather-than-showing, but I like it. Kinda.

Review, please! Especially if you enjoyed it!


	12. Chapter 12

_**Connections**_

_**Chapter 12**_

"Nng... how long have I been out this time?"

"_Only a couple of days this time."_ Lightpulsar answered calmly, gently helping her duelist sit up. _"How do you feel?"_

Jake took a moment to think, as he sipped from the glass of water on the nightstand. "Not too bad, actually. I feel... energized, I guess is the best way to put it."

"_Why's that?" _Darkflare asked.

"I..." Jake paused, trying to straighten his thoughts. "I'm not exactly sure."

Lightpulsar nodded. _"Leyvaten is out with Stardust and the others, they're going to be back pretty soon."_

Jake nodded, carefully swinging his legs out over the side of the bed and standing up cautiously. When he found that he wasn't dizzy, he relaxed. "Alright, sounds good. So how're you two doing? Last I heard, you two couldn't go -"

Lightpulsar's face brightened. _"Don't you dare -"_

Jake grinned widely. "Whatsa matter, Light? Don't wanna talk about how you and Dark spend your nights?"

Darkflare's own red face was rather entertaining for Jake to see. _"No! That's private!"_

Jake chuckled, and threw his arm around Lightpulsar's shoulders, squeezing her tightly and warmly. "Oh, Light, I'm just teasing you. You know that, right?"

Light pouted. _"I know... you jerk."_

"Overgrown lizard."

"_...Leyvaten has given you way too much practice at those."_

"_Practice at wha - Jake!"_ Leyvaten interrupted herself, dashing forth and grabbing her precious duelist in a tight hug. _"Oh dear Ra am I glad you're alright!"_

Jake's smile widened as he hugged Leyvaten in return. "Heh. Hey, Leyvaten."

"_You... you really scared me there." _Leyvaten started. _"Back when you were so determined to fight Primo... I... I've never seen you like that. And..."_

Jake hugged Leyvaten even tighter. "I'm sorry for scaring you. I won't do it again."

"_You better not." _Leyvaten gently let go of her duelist.

Stardust gently placed a claw on his mate's shoulder, catching her attention. _"Jake, we also have some... other news."_

"Yeah? What'd I miss?"

"Look outside," Crow said, pointing to the window. "Whatdya see?"

Jake raised an eyebrow at Crow, but did as he was asked. "Am I supposed to see any - _what the hell is that?!_"

Jack blinked and crossed his arms. "So you can see it."

"Of course I can see it - there's a big giant city-lookin' thing from the sky!"

"Well out of everyone else we've asked, all of us, Team Ragnarok, and you are the only ones able to actually see it."

Jake turned to stare at Jack. He looked back at the thing in the sky, then at Jack again, before he spoke. "Ooookay... how?"

Yusei stepped forward this time. "Crow, Jack, and I met up with Ragnarok not long ago. They mentioned that only those that were Signers or marked with the Rune Eye can see it."

"I have neither." Jake commented bluntly.

"_You're the Speaker of the Cards," _Stardust commented. _"That might give you the ability to see it."_

Jake nodded, conceding the point to Stardust. "I guess that's reason enough." He crossed his arms. "Although that still doesn't tell me what it means to be this 'Speaker' that Primo kept going on about."

Leyvaten glanced at Stardust. _"Jake, that's... part of the other news. We... found some information on what it means to be the Speaker._

Jake's attention snapped to her. "You did? What? What'd you find out?"

Leyvaten calmly explained to Jake what she and her mate had found, once again excluding the meeting with Evening Star Dragon, as per that dragon's request. Jake paced once she had finished, thinking heavily upon all that he had learned.

_I just wish I knew why I was chosen to be this "Speaker" role..._ Jake mused silently, pausing long enough to stare out the window at what Leyvaten told him was called the Arc Cradle. Squinting, Jake stared at the Cradle. _And why that Cradle looks so familiar._

Something else came to mind, and Jake decided to bring it up. "So you met Team Ragnarok? Aren't they the team you're fighting next?"

"Yup," Crow said. He moved over to the computer, bringing up some research Bruno was doing on their next opponent. "Team Ragnarok. They showed us the three synchros they plan to use against us in their duel... and yup, they're right here. Broder is using Loki, Lord of the Aesir."

"Dragan uses Thor, Lord of the Aesir," Jack commented, nodding to the photo of the card Crow brought up. "I can't wait to duel him."

Yusei moved over to the computer as well, bringing up a photo of said card. "And Halldor fights with Odin, Father of the Aesir."

Jake felt a shiver go down his spine, and turned to look at the card on the screen. Yusei looked towards Jake, wondering what he may have thought of the cards, and looking to see if their friend may have had an idea of a strategy on how to fight these powerful cards.

Yusei most certainly did not expect to see Jake's eye change color and have his pupil narrow, and he felt his Signer mark warm momentarily. Yusei felt his back stiffen at what he saw, and he was about to bring it up, but a moment later, he watched as Jake's eye returned to normal.

"So what do you think, Jake?" Crow asked. "Any ideas? I'm kinda stumped on what to do."

Jake took a moment to answer. He smirked towards Crow. "Do what you do best: wing it."

Crow slammed his palm into his forehead, as most of the others chuckled. As they moved towards the garage of their building, Yusei grabbed Stardust's arm at the top of the stairs leading from the loft.

Stardust looked at his duelist, and was rather surprised by the look on his face. _"What's wrong, Yusei? You look like you've seen a ghost."_

"Did... did you see that?" Yusei asked his dragon quietly.

Stardust shook his head. _"See what?"_

Yusei looked Stardust in the eye. "Jake's eye changed. When he looked at that picture of Odin, his eye changed, and my Sign tried to tell me something."

Stardust sent his thoughts back to when he and Leyvaten investigated Evening Star Dragon's chamber. _"And? What did the eye look like?"_

"It... the pupil changed to look the way yours do. And everything around it was blue, almost... no, exactly the same way the sky looks during the sunrise."

"_And... what did your Sign try to tell you?"_

Yusei bit his lip. "I felt... I don't quite know. It was an odd mixture of emotions." He sighed as he gathered his thoughts, moving to pace the room a bit as he did so. "To me, it felt like the Crimson Dragon was warning me of Jake. It felt like it's... afraid of his power, and maybe in awe of it. I... I know you two found more during that investigation Leyvaten's Ravine."

Stardust nodded. _"Yeah. We found another dragon, but we promised not to say anything. I'm guessing that somehow he channeled into Jake at that moment."_

"Is it possible that dragon wants to duel against Odin?"

"_That's what I'm thinking as well."_

Yusei opened his mouth to say more, but closed it when Jake came back up the stairs, followed shortly by Jack and Crow and Leyvaten.

Crow spoke first, "Yusei, Jake says he wants to make a request of us for our upcoming duel with Ragnarok."

"So out with it already," Jack told Jake. "What's got you so wound up over the next round?"

Jake stared down at the floor, shuffling his feet a bit. "I want to be the one to go against Halldor in the next duel."

Stardust would say that he was surprised, but that would be lying. He opened his mouth to say something, but Jack beat him to it.

"You can't do that, Yusei's already going to be the one facing him!"

Crow stared at Jake in shock of the request. "And why would you want to do something like that? That's a rather sudden request. You just woke up from a coma! Take it easy for a bit!"

"I can't, Crow! I _need_ to face Halldor!" Jake insisted, looking them both in the eye.

"Yeah? And what's the reason for that?" Jack snapped. "It had better be good!"

Jake glanced away from them towards Leyvaten. "I just... need to face him and his Nordic god card."

"That's not a good enough reason for me. You're going to have to do better than that!"

Jake growled, "Look Jack, if I _don't_ face him now, I may never get a chance to, and I feel like I won't ever forgive myself for that!"

The others in the loft blinked, surprised at Jake's determination. Stardust decided to ask the question on their minds. _"And why's that?" _

"I..." Jake bit his lip and took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Jack... you know those times when you sneak out at night to go and find someone to duel? When you have that dueling itch that you just can't scratch on your own?"

Jack paused for a moment before nodding. "What of it?"

"Right now, I have that feeling towards Halldor and his Odin card." Jake straightened his stance and looked Jack in the eye. "That, Jack, is why I _need_ to face Halldor."

Jack took a few moments to think about, but Yusei spoke first. "I'm fine with it."

Crow's attention snapped to his oldest friend. "You are? But what about what we said back at the park to Team Ragnarok?"

Yusei remained silent, looking Stardust in the eye. After a tense, long minute, Stardust relayed their silent message. _"I agree with Yusei. I'm fine with it - on one condition. You have to at least summon me during your duel with Halldor."_

Jack spun around to face the two of them, "Wait, are you serious, you're really willing to -"

"You have a deal, Stardust."

Crow blew out a lungful of air. "Alright. Alright! Fine. You can take Yusei's place. Just... don't screw it up for us."

"I won't."

_1234567890987654321_

"**Aaand now it's time for Yusei Fu - no wait, I'm getting a message!"** MC paused only momentarily. **"Oh my word - this is incredible! Yusei Fudo is bowing out of this duel!"**

The entire audience was shocked beyond words, but none more so than Halldor, and the members of Team Pure Nobles. Halldor was the first to recover.

"What?" He leapt up off his runner, stalking towards the stall belonging to Team 5Ds. "You are fleeing from our promised duel, Yusei Fudo?!"

Yusei looked to his former opponent, walking to meet Halldor in the middle of the track. "Yeah, sorry about that, but... a good friend of mine really wanted to duel you."

"Who, Yusei? Is it another Signer? Who could possibly have such a powerful desire to duel me that he gets in the way of finding out our destiny?!"

"Yo."

Halldor's attention snapped to behind his former opponent, and his eyes widened. As of its own accord, Team Ragnarok sensed each of their left eyes shifting to show their Runes.

"**That's right folks!"** MC interjected, leaping onto his desk, adrenaline pumping through his veins in his excitement. **"In an unexpected upset, Jake Rikota is replacing Yusei Fudo for this portion of the duel! This will be his second-ever appearance in a professional Turbo Duel, his last being against Team Catastrophe early on in the tournament!"**

Halldor looked Jake in the eye, before heaving a sigh. "Very well. I simply hope you do not disappoint me in this duel." He held out his hand.

Jake smirked, and shook his foe's hand. "You won't be."

"**Alllriiiight! It looks like Halldor has accepted the change in lineup, which means the duel can begin! Duelists, prepare your Runners! Viewers, get ready for what we can only hope to be a good show!"**

As Jake and Halldor raced out onto the distant duelling track, the Ragnarok leader spoke. "I don't quite understand what it was that drove you to convince Yusei to step down and allow you to take his place. What could you have possibly done to do so?"

Jake looked Halldor in the eye. "I told him I wanted to duel you."

"What?" Halldor blinked. "That's all? But - Yusei and I were supposed to duel! In order to determine our destinies, and see where fate -"

"Fate, shmate. I hate it when people throw those kinds of words around. Let's ignore all that, and get this started. I'll go first!"

_Jake: 4000 LP (Life Points), 0 SP (Speed Counters)_

_Halldor: 4000 LP, 0 SP_

Jake smirked at the card he drew. "I'll start the game by summoning Dragunity Aklys to the field!"

_Dragunity Aklys (Dragon/Tuner): 1000 ATK/800 DEF; 2 Stars_

_[When this card is Normal Summoned, you may Special Summon 1 "Dragunity" monster from your hand and equip it with this card. When Dragunity Aklys is sent to the graveyard while equipped to a monster, you may destroy 1 card on the field.]_

"And through the use of Dragunity Akyls' effect, I get to special summon one Dragunity monster from my hand!" Jake grinned as he picked one card out of his hand holder. "And I know just the one! Come on out to the field, Dragunity Arma Leyvaten!"

_Dragunity Arma Leyvaten (Dragon/Effect): 2600 ATK/1200 DEF; 8 Stars_

_[You may Special Summon this monster from your hand or Graveyard by Removing From Play 1 face-up monster equipped with a "Dragunity" card. When this card is Normal or Special Summoned, you may select 1 Dragon-type card in your Graveyard, except for "Dragunity Arma Leyvaten", and equip it to this card. When this card is sent to the Graveyard by your opponent's card effect, you can select 1 of the monsters equipped to this card when it was sent to the GRaveyard, and Special Summon that monster from the Graveyard.]_

"**Oh my word! Jake Rikota has summoned his ace monster in the first turn! Can Halldor keep up with this young duelist's speed?"**

Jake looked back at Halldor, still grinning widely. "Well let's find out, shall we? I end my turn with three face-downs! Your move, Halldor."

"Then I draw!" Halldor glanced at the cards in his hand.

_LP is unchanged._

_Both: 1 SP._

"And I'll take the chance to active Class Change! For the next three turns, all speed spells are considered grounds pells, and all ground spells are speed spells that require at least two speed counters!"

"Very well then, I summon Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant."

_Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant (Fairy/Tuner): 400 ATK/800 DEF; 2 Stars_

"When this is done successfully, I activate it's effect!" Halldor glanced over his hand once more, before choosing two of them and placing them in his Graveyard slot. "I discard two cards in order to special summon two level 4 tokens! I am fairly certain you can see where this is going, Mister Rikota."

Jake felt his heart racing faster than the turbo duel already did for his pulse.

"**Ladies and Gentlemen, I think I know where this is going myself! Oh, it's not often I get to see duels like this!"**

All of Team 5Ds knew what was coming as well. It was fairly obvious. Knowing this, Yusei got Bruno in order to take over the computer for a moment.

"_What is it, Yusei? What's up?" _Stardust asked from where his miniaturized form was hanging onto his duelist's shoulder.

Yusei took a moment to answer, finishing the code he was typing in. A moment later, a direct view of Jake's face appeared on screen. "I wanted to confirm what I saw before, so... last night I did a little tinkering with Jake's runner. I added a camera right above his duel screen."

"What is it you're confirming?" Bruno asked, just as confused as the others.

"You'll see. If I'm right, it should happen the moment Halldor finishes his summoning."

"Let us see if you have the power to face against all three Nordic gods at once, Jake Rikota! I tune Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant with my two tokens, in order to Synchro Summon -"

Jake smirked, grabbing the last card from his hand. "That means I get to cast from my hand the Quick-Play Spell, Mutual Synchro!"

"Mutual Synchro?"

"**Now this is a new card, one I've never seen before! Just what does it do?"**

"This ground spell can only be activated when my opponent begins a Synchro Summon. I select one Synchro Monster from my extra deck, and summon it straight to the field before your Synchro Summon even begins! I summon Stardust Dragon!"

Yusei and Stardust shared a look. _"Wow, that was fast. I didn't know he had that card."_

"Me either. You going to be there with Leyvaten?"

"_...Not now. I want to see what it is you're talking about."_

Jake wasn't finished, however. "But there is a small cost to summoning Stardust Dragon with this card. It costs me life points equal to his level, times 100! That makes it 800 life points!"

_Both: SP is unchanged._

_Jake: 3200 LP_

_Halldor: 4000 LP_

Halldor felt a grin stretch across his face. He was still somewhat frustrated that his duel against Yusei had been stolen from him, and he was rather confused as to why his Rune Eye had shown itself of its own accord when he'd first seen Jake arrive on the track.

But Halldor was most certainly glad that this Jake Rikota had turned out to be such a good duelist. It would most certainly be entertaining to defeat him, at the very least.

"But that still doesn't stop my summons! I Synchro Summon - Odin, Father of the Aesir!"

_Odin, Father of the Aesir (Divine-Beast/Synchro/Effect): 4000 ATK/3500 DEF; 10 Stars_

_[Once per turn, you may activate this card's effect. If you do, all face-up Divine-Beast-Type monster(s) you control become unaffected by the effects of Spell/Trap Cards until the End Phase. If this face-up card on the field is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon it during the End Phase. If this card is Special Summoned from your Graveyard, you may draw 1 card.]_

There it was again. That shiver down his spine. Jake watched, a mixture of awe and a strong, overwhelming desire to beat Odin, filling his very being. He knew - he simply _knew_ that beating Odin, and in turn beating Halldor altogether, was something that he simply must do.

It was at this point that Yusei once again felt his Sign warm, as did the other Signers that were watching the camera feed from Jake's runner. Stardust felt his jaw drop.

"_Dear Ra... his eyes... they look just like..._"

"What's going on with Jake's eyes?!" Leo cried.

The entirety of Team 5Ds stared, watching in a mixture of awe, wonder, and worry. Jake's left eye shifted color entirely, the area around the pupil shifting to be a soft sky blue. His right eye, staring directly at Odin with a fierce determination to beat him, changed to be a darker, more navy blue. This all happened before both pupils narrowed and stretched, akin to that of a dragon's.

"_Wow. Those eyes, they look..."_ Stardust shook his head, before focusing and fusing his spirit with the hologram flying by Jake. _"Leyvaten, do you see his eyes?"_

Leyvaten nodded, biting her lip as she could hope he was alright. Odin, despite being far away in the distance due to sheer bodily size, also noticed the change in his duelist's opponent - and smiled softly to himself.

"_So..." _Odin began to speak, catching Jake's attention. _"My opponent is to be the Speaker of the Cards. Do not disappoint me, Speaker."_

Jake smirked. _Oh, I won't, Odin._

Halldor allowed a few moments to pass before continuing his turn. "I will use Odin's ability to negate all Spell and Trap Card effects that target my Nordic gods! Loki, attack Dragunity Arma Leyvaten!"

"I activate the trap card, Battle Break! This ends the battle phase!"

"Then I set one card face down and end my turn."

"Then it's my turn, and I draw!"

_Both: LP is unchanged. 2 SP._

Jake found himself rather confused by the card he drew. _This card isn't in my deck... how did you..._

_**Synchro Summon me.**_

Who that voice belonged to, Jake didn't know. Where this tuner card came from, he had no idea.

But he did know that he needed to do it.

"I'm going to start my turn by summoning Evening Star Synchron!"

_Evening Star Synchron (Dragon/Tuner): 500 ATK/500 DEF, 2 Stars_

_[This Tuner monster may only be used to Synchro Summon "Evening Star Dragon". When this monster is used as Synchro material, you draw one card.]_

Crow frowned, "He doesn't have that card in his deck. I faced him in a turbo duel yesterday, just to really see if he had what it would take to beat Halldor."

Jack looked towards his friend. "And how'd he do?"

"Well, he beat me, so that was nice to see... but then he showed me his deck afterwards, and I do have to say, it was pretty solid. But that card wasn't in there."

Yusei nodded along with Crow's line of thinking. "And with how much of a rush we were in to get here this morning, it's not possible for him to have bought it on the way."

"_So that means... that it just appeared in his deck?" _Black Rose guessed. _"But... why?"_

"**I've never heard of this card, either! It seems that Rikota is just full of surprises today!"** MC cut in, voicing the confusion and intrigue of the entire audience.

"And since it's a tuner monster, I'm planning to use it to Synchro Summon!" Jake declared proudly. He could feel his heart pounding, his blood flowing, and his very soul burning with the desire to fight Halldor and Odin with everything he had. "I tune level two Evening Star Tuner with level eight Dragunity Arma Leyvaten!"

Each of the five Signers, immediately felt their arms _burn_, each of their five Signs glowing brightly. A sense of fear... an immense amount of respect filled their very beings as the feelings of the Crimson Dragon flowed through them.

The members of Team Ragnarok could very clearly sense - as if they were their own feelings - each of their respective gods fill with a powerful feeling of awe as the ritual for Synchro Summoning began.

Evening Star Tuner, rather than turn into a green outline that vanished and left two gear-like rings behind, it instead showed its two stars leaving behind two bright white rings. Leyvaten, knowing exactly who was being summoned, decided to remain silent and simply do as he duelist instructed. Leaping through the two white rings, her holographic form left behind eight stars that lined up perfectly.

"When the night falls and the Evening Star rises," Jake calmly chanted along with the summon. "My very soul will manifest along with it. Come forth, Evening Star Dragon!"

When the small card was slapped onto the duel runner, the holographic machines began to process the graphics required for the monster.

The entire audience was able to stand up in awe before it finally began to appear.

Two wings, as big as Thor was tall, slowly appeared first and unfurled from high above Jake. Shortly after, a body that was as large as Odin himself slowly began to reveal itself as the graphics processor of New Domino City's duelling center struggled to load the model. It took a solid twenty seconds for the entire visual to finish loading, after which it worked perfectly fine.

The underbelly of this large beast revealed itself to be colored the same as the light side of the moon, stretching from the underside of his muzzle, all the way down the underside of his tail. Surrounding it, was the soft, soothing gold of the early morning sun. The underside of his wings, however, were the same dark shade as the dark side of the moon. The outside of his wings held the black color of the night sky, veins of the gold from the dragon's main body bleeding into it.

The dragon's eyes were rather... unique. The left eye held a black draconic pupil surrounding by the soft blue of the morning sky, while the other pupil was surrounded by the dark color of the evening sky.

"**Oh my goodness gracious! Ladies and gentlemen, that is the biggest dragon I've ever seen in my life!"**

Evening Star Dragon took a moment to turn around, being careful to not fly too low, so as to avoid running into anything. He smirked towards Odin._"Well, Odin, it seems we finally get to settle that bet of ours."_

Odin found himself smirking as well. _"It seems so, old friend. Let us finally see whose duelist is the better, shall we?"_

Halldor, at long last, looked away from Jake's summoned monster, opting to look towards the duelist he was facing against.

"Who... just who in the world are you?" He demanded. "What kind of Duelist are you to command such a magnificent dragon?!"

Jake took several moments to answer, before deciding to spin around and drift backwards for a bit. Halldor once more felt that shiver travel down his spine, the same one that occurred when the dragon was first summoned, as he laid witness to his opponent's eyes.

They looked exactly like Evening Star Dragon's.

"I am the Speaker of the Cards, Halldor," Jake announced calmly. "And Evening Star Dragon is my soul beast."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Alright, so it's been... a year and a couple of months since the last update. Soooo... here you go, guys! Enjoy!


End file.
